The Secret Rule
by Marcus Absent
Summary: FINALLY UPDATED: Taro Kagami has spent his whole life trying to undo the destruction caused by the notebook. Now, he may finally get his chance. But the powers of evil are stronger than he thinks. Who will win? Who will survive? Latest chapter: The Secret is Out
1. The First Owner

Taro Kagami decided that he wasn't feeling hungry enough to eat dinner, so he went up to his room. And who could blame him for not having an appetite? The ordeal of the past few days would have shaken anyone, especially a 13-year-old.

In the four days since he had picked up that notebook lying in the street, he had wielded more power than he could have possibly imagined: control over life and death. With the Death Note, he could have struck down any person in the world, just like that. He could have brought a world of peace by killing criminals, or he could have become a fearsome dictator, destroying anyone who got in his way.

But he couldn't do it. He was just a kid, and those deaths would have haunted his nightmares. And then there was his own trip beyond death. Even thinking about that made him shudder; just those few moments of existing in total nothingness had been…too horrible to describe.

At least now, it was all over. All of the dead people had been brought back to life, and the note Miura had used had been destroyed by the police.

Only one thing to left do.

He opened the drawer he kept the notebook in. Such an ordinary looking thing…a simple, black notebook, just like any that one might find in school. But such a dangerous thing…

"So, you still have it."

Taro turned around. Despite Ryuk's terrifying appearance, he had finally gotten used to seeing the shinigami.

Ryuk went on. "You'd think those detectives would have realized that you only gave them one of the notebooks. But you've still got one of them. What are you going to do with it?"

Taro had an answer ready. "Nothing. I'm giving it back to you."

Ryuk obviously wasn't suspecting this answer. "But why? You can do anything you want."

"No. Those two detectives know about the Death Note. If I kill anybody, they'll be sure to know it was me."

Ryuk shrugged. "So kill them first."

Taro shook his head. "I don't want to kill anyone. I just want it to all be over."

Ryuk stroked his chin. "Well, the standard rule is that whoever gives up the Death Note must also relinquish their memories of it. You would forget everything you ever did with the notebook."

Forget everything that happened? That might not be too bad, Taro thought.

Then he noticed Ryuk's face, and the look of excitement that was on it. That was bad, because Taro was sure that Ryuk had just left the Death Note lying around for the fun of it. So anything that would make him excited was bound to be bad news.

"Hmm…I suppose I could bend the rules a little bit," Ryuk said. "Might be fun." Then he began to fly away, laughing as he went.

"Wait," Taro called out. "I don't want to remember this!"

Then Ryuk stopped.

"By the way," he said. "I've noticed that death doesn't mean much to you humans if you can just use the eraser and bring someone back to life afterwards." Ryuk then tossed Taro the magic eraser. "So, I'll leave this with you; I won't be needing it."

"What will you do?" Taro asked.

"I'll find someone who's less boring," Ryuk said. "And I might…forget…to tell them there's a way to undo what's written in the Death Note."

Then the death god flew away, leaving Taro with only an eraser that was powerless without the notebook, and hellish memories he would never be able to forget.

That was November, 2002.

* * *

On April 4th, 2003, Inspector Yamanaka of the Metropolitan Police, OX division, passed away from a virulent illness. He had been sick for over a month, and there was no cause to suspect foul play.

His partner, Detective Takagi, was running late on his way to Yamanaka's funeral, when a drunk driver crashed into his car. He was killed instantly.

On July 15th, 2003, Taro's friend Miura drowned while on vacation with his family. His death was deemed an accident.

On July 17th, when Taro picked up the morning paper and learned of Miura's death, he realized what was going on; everyone who knew about the notebook was now dead. Except for anyone Ryuk might have given it to since he left. And Taro himself. It was likely that Ryuk had been the one to kill them, but Taro couldn't know for sure, and there wasn't really anything that could be done even if he was sure.

Would Ryuk kill him, now? Or had he left Taro alive just so he could have his fun? Taro waited...

...and waited...

...and waited.

By September of 2003, the issue was beginning to pass from Taro's mind. Whenever he did think about Ryuk, he concluded that Ryuk must have left him alive on purpose. And even if he hadn't, Taro couldn't really do anything about it, so he just tried to put the past behind him.

Then, near the end of November, 2003, it happened.

The news became flooded with reports of people all over the world who were suddenly dropping dead of heart attacks. Every national police force on the planet was in an uproar. There was no explanation, no suspects, no leads, and no patterns except that all the people who died were criminals or suspected of being a criminal.

News reports and other media reported the incidents as they occurred, but had no idea what could be causing the string of mysterious executions. Speculation was rampant. Some people thought it was coincidence. Some people suspected that the police had found some new, effective way to crack down on crime. The most popular theory was that all the sinful people were being punished by a vengeful god, who was quickly dubbed "Kira" by the internet.

But Taro Kagami knew the truth. Ryuk had found another person.

The Death Note was in the human world once again.


	2. L Makes His Move

**Thanks, first of all, to everyone who reviewed this! Hopefully, I can attract some more attention this time around.**

**And since I forgot to put it in the last chapter, ahem...Death Note is written by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. Since I am neither one of those awesome people, I obviously do not take credit for Death Note or its pilot (where Taro Kagami comes from, just in case anyone didn't know).**

**However, I haven't seen many stories that insert Taro into the main series, so I might take credit for that idea? If anyone's giving it away? No? Oh well...on with the next chapter!**

* * *

Wherever Taro went, these deaths were all people talked about. Not just on the news, but on the streets and in school. Taro couldn't go a block without hearing someone talk about the deaths, and this "Kira" guy (or girl: it could hypothetically be a girl, although Taro was pretty sure Ryuk would actually choose a guy).

What was scariest about these conversations...was that a lot of people didn't seem to be that scared. Of course, there were plenty of people who walked everywhere quickly, peered over their shoulder, like they were afraid this mysterious Kira would strike them down at any moment. But there were also people who held their heads high, not only unafraid of this killer, but also cheerful about the fact that the killer was around, bumping off criminals.

What was wrong with these people, thought Taro. Did they not realize that "Kira" is only sparing them by his own whim, and that if he wanted to kill someone who wasn't a criminal, he could do so at a moment's notice?

All through this, Taro kept wondering why Ryuk would have let him keep the eraser, and his memories. Was it because he wanted Taro to stop Kira, or just because he wanted to watch Taro _try_ to stop Kira? With the eraser, he could undo all the damage that Kira was doing, but he had to actually find the Death Note first.

Of course, the problem was he had no idea where even to start looking.

After a few weeks of this, Taro couldn't take it anymore. He knew that there was a notebook out there capable of killing people, and that someone was using it. Surely, the authorities would have some way to make use of that information. He had to tell the police what he knew. If he didn't, then he would be guilty of keeping silent.

With that, he set off toward the police station, with the eraser in his pocket.

Of course, the real problem was that there was no way to prove his story. And even in the unlikely case the police actually did believe him, there wasn't much they could do with the knowledge, aside from keeping people's names off the news.

Regardless, he had to try.

As Taro passed through the city square, just outside the police station, he noticed a broadcast playing on the public screen. It was man, calling himself L, who was representing the police, trying to speak directly to Kira. He vowed that he would hunt Kira down.

Unfortunately, his full name was right there on the screen: Lind L. Taylor.

"That fool!" Taro cried out in horror, not caring who heard him. Kira can see his name! If he makes Kira angry-

-but then it was all over, as Taylor clutched his chest in pain and keeled over. There was no question that Kira had killed him. A murder on live television.

Only a few seconds later, however, the image of Taylor's body was replaced with a plain image of a decorative letter "L." A synthesized voice began speaking, claiming that he was the real L, and that Lind L. Taylor was just bait to trap Kira. The voice sounded inhuman somehow: it could have been the synthesizer, but Taro felt something else. Something scarier.

Then L laughed. "_Now, Kira, try to kill me!_"

The crowd immediately began to roar in response to L's challenge. Some cheered on Kira, while others cheered on L. Taro, however, hated them both. What L had done...he had made a mockery of those deaths by challenging Kira so publicly. If Kira was as unstable as he appeared to be, this would only make everything worse. Since Kira obviously couldn't kill L without seeing his face, they were both safe for the moment. But other people would die as a result of L's actions.

Still alive, L continued his taunting. "_So there are people you can't kill? You've given me a useful hint. Now, let me return the favor. This was announced as a worldwide broadcast, but in reality, we're actually only broadcasting in the Kanto region of Japan._"

What?

L went on to explain his reasoning behind broadcasting only in Kanto, but Taro was no longer listening. If Kira had seen that message, than he must be in the Kanto region, which meant Ryuk hadn't traveled very far to drop the notebook. Kira was close! In fact, any of the people in the crowd could be Kira!

Glancing around, Taro saw many people shouting at the screen, but no one seemed to be holding the Death Note. Yeah, Kira wouldn't be so foolish as to use the note right in the middle of the street. Still...the thought of Kira being so nearby was even more unnerving than the possibility of Kira being anywhere in the world.

Taro ran home. He couldn't go the police now; he couldn't trust anybody. Besides, Kira had just made it very clear; anyone who tried to get in his way would be killed. And a 14-year-old kid who knew about the Death Note would be at the top of the list.

* * *

The teacher's angry voice interrupted his thoughts. "Kagami? Are you paying attention? This isn't middle school anymore, you know."

"I know, sir," Taro apologized. He had spaced out, stressed as usual. "It won't happen again."

"It had better not. Now, class, if you'll each turn your books to page-"

Taro's friend Sayu leaned over and said, "Don't nod off. Remember, I'm counting on you to help me get through this class."

Taro shook his head. Sayu Yagami didn't need his help; she was much smarter than she gave herself credit for. She probably just felt overshadowed by the genius older brother she was always talking about. "Come on, Sayu: you can get quadratic equations."

"No, I really have no idea how to do all this."

Taro frowned. He just realized that he had missed everything the teacher had said over the past few minutes. Later, when he and Sayu looked over the problems at lunch, they couldn't come up with anything.

Then the conversation turned to other matters.

"Taro...what do you think about Kira?"

Taro's voice stuck in his throat. "Uh...why do you ask?" he finally croaked.

"I hear all those things about Kira and L on the news, but there's no one to talk to about it," Sayu said. "Mom doesn't want to talk about it; Kira really scares her since Dad's a police officer. And I can't talk to Dad because he's never able to come home. Light just stays locked up in his room the whole time. I just want to hear someone else's opinion."

Taro wasn't sure how much he should say. Basically he already knew everything there was to know about Kira, except for his actual identity. But he didn't want to go spreading that knowledge around too much.

"I think that Kira may have good intentions," he began. After all, he had once been in Kira's position. "Ridding the world of crime isn't necessarily a bad thing. But...it's all too much power for one person to have."

Sayu studied Taro for a while before responding. "I agree. It's too easy for someone like Kira to be corrupted."

Taro nodded. "But...it's like people don't see that. They just see Kira as a convenience; he makes them feel safer, when they're really in much more danger because there's a-" (he caught himself before the word _notebook_) "-a person out there with so much power."

Sayu agreed.

* * *

After school, Sayu invited Taro over to study quadratic equations, most likely with some help from her brother. Taro politely declined; he didn't have time for studying quadratic equations. Talking to Sayu had boosted his confidence and reaffirmed his desire to stop Ryuk's plans. He would find Kira, even if the police wouldn't be able to help him.

Let's see, Taro thought, what kind of person would Kira be?

Well, Kira is definitely self-righteous. He believes that everyone who is evil should die.

He is also most likely not a kid. Taro had been too scared to use the notebook, so someone the same age would probably be too scared as well.

He also was quick to anger. If he weren't, he probably wouldn't have killed that Taylor guy L had used as bait. That also meant he probably wasn't quite an adult, since an adult would have remained cool under pressure. Maybe, 18 or 19?

So, an older teenager or young adult who hated wrongdoers passionately...hmm...

What if Kira was someone whose life had personally been affected by a criminal? Someone whose friend or family member had been murdered? But that alone wasn't enough to narrow anything down significantly. Perhaps it could have been someone who was harmed by Kira's first victim? Who had L said it was?

Taro quickly found a recording of L's broadcast online, as well as links concerning speculation as to who the very first victim was. The most common result was a man named Kurou Otoharada, who had been holding a day care center in Shinjuku hostage when he dropped dead. He had also assaulted several people at a shopping center the day before.

Six people from the shopping center, and eight from the nursery. That was still a lot. Not to mention the fact that Kira might only be loosely connected to these people, and not actually one of them. Or the very real possibility that Kira wasn't directly connected to Otoharada at all, and choosing him first had been a coincidence. Or maybe Otoharada wasn't even the real first victim.

Ugh, it all made Taro's head hurt. There was no way he could account for every possibility. Right now, he should focus on those fourteen people who were directly connected to Otoharada, and who fit the potential description he had come up with. If that search turned out to be fruitless, _then_ he could check into those other possibilities.

Out of the six people who had been assaulted, one (at 37) was too old, but everyone else fit the profile. And only two teachers had been taken captive at the day care center: the rest were children. Wait...the teachers wouldn't have been able to do anything while being held at gunpoint. So if the connection was through the day care, it was probably one of the parents, killing Otoharada to try and protect their child.

That made...five people, and six sets of parents. All suspects. Now, to find some way to question them...

* * *

**I'm still new at writing for this fandom, so I really want to hear your opinions of this story. Please review. If not for me, do it for Taro :)**


	3. The Man on the Train

"Hello, Mrs. Fujiwara?" Taro asked.

"Yes, that's me," the young woman who answered the door said. A little boy, probably about four, stood behind her. Presumably, that was Shidou Fujiwara, who had been a hostage at the day care center. Perfect. "Who are you?" Mrs. Fujiwara asked.

"My name is Taro Nakamura." That way, if Hikari Fujiwara did turn out to be Kira and saw through the deception, she wouldn't be able to kill him. "I trying to prepare a presentation on current events for my history class, and I decided to cover the hostage situation at your son's day care about two months ago. Would you mind if I interviewed you?"

Mrs. Fujiwara looked a little shaken at the mention of the incident. "W-why are you asking me about it? I wasn't there when it happened."

"The teacher present, Mr. Hosokawa, said that your son was there, and I wanted to get the perspective of a parent whose child was in danger." Taro had already talked to Hosokawa, just in case any of the parents tried to check on his story.

"Well, all right. Come on in," Mrs. Fujiwara said.

* * *

"Where were you when the incident started?" Taro asked.

"Well, I was at home, doing chores," Mrs. Fujiwara replied. "One of the teachers called to tell me what had happened, and suggested that I turn on the television to stay informed. He told me that Shidou had been taken hostage, but assured me that everything was being done to protect him."

"Did you believe him?"

"I guess I had no choice," said Mrs. Fujiwara. "I wanted desperately to do something, but I knew that going down there and trying to rescue him or something would only make things worse."

"If there was a practical way for you to rescue him, would you have?"

The question seemed to confuse Mrs. Fujiwara. "Well, of course I would have. He's my son! But there was no way to do it."

"Of course not," Taro said. She didn't even seem to consider the possibility that there could have been a way to kill Otoharada and save her son. That was a point in her favor. But the interview was not over yet.

"When the news announced that the man's name was Kurou Otoharada, did you have any reaction to discovering his identity?"

"No. I didn't know him."

Another point in her favor. In this situation, the appearance of the criminal's name would have meant Kira's triumph; she would have felt something. She had answered quickly, but not too quickly; that was a good sign that she was telling the truth.

"Just one more question, ma'am," Taro said. "What did you make of the criminal suddenly dropping dead?

"Well, at the time, I didn't give it a thought, since Shidou was safe. Since then, I guess I realized it must have been Kira." It seemed unlikely that she would have mentioned Kira if she actually was Kira; no doubt she would want to draw attention away from Kira killing the man, especially since it was this supposed first murder that allowed L to pinpoint Kira's location. At this point, it was very unlikely that Mrs. Fujiwara was Kira. And if she was good enough to avoid the traps Taro had set so far, there was no way he would be able to catch her at it.

"Thank you very much," Taro said. "I don't have any more questions." Seeing that Mrs. Fujiwara's eyes were finally starting to glisten, he added, "I'm sorry if I brought up any painful memories."

"It's fine," Mrs. Fujiwara replied.

At that, Taro left.

One down, at least ten more to go.

* * *

After a few weeks of trying to track Kira down, Taro was becoming very discouraged.

So far, he had interviewed seven people (the parents of four kids from the day care, and three teenagers from the assault), and not one of them had stood out to him as being likely to be Kira. But what was worse, he couldn't shake the feeling that Kira was just good enough to slip through any questions Taro might ask him, which meant he would never be able to find him. The 19-year-old he had just questioned, Michiko Seto, had either clearly not been Kira, or had put on quite an impressive stupid-teenage-girl act.

Well, considering that every police force in Japan hadn't managed to find Kira yet, it _was_ pretty unlikely that Taro would be able to, even though he actually knew what he was looking for.

Just then, his phone beeped. It was a message from his mother, saying that his dad was coming home from work early, and that they would be having dinner at 5. That gave him about two hours. Well, he was done "interrogating" people for the day; might as well head home.

He climbed down the stairs towards the subway station. Ordinarily, he would have taken the bus, but...the bus hijacking that had taken place last week had left everyone a little shaken. Taro himself had been at the nest bus stop when it happened. He had been irritated, impatient that the bus was running late, and had only learned afterwards that he come very close to running into a madman with a gun. He doubted he would ever ride the bus again.

That, he supposed, was one good thing that had come about from Kira's actions. Because the crime rate had become rarer, it was more shocking when it actually took place, and people weren't nearly as desensitized to it. The only problem was that now the public was _very_ desensitized to the horror of Kira's murders. Not only that, but many people actually approved of them.

And speaking of Kira's murders, a man busy sweeping in front of a coffee shop suddenly dropped dead on the floor. A crowd started to gather, but Taro kept walking, not eager to get a closer look. By now, it wasn't the first time that Kira had killed someone in front of him, and he doubted it would be the last. He was no longer startled by them, just sickened.

As he looked away from the scene, he bumped into a man, who was also walking away from the now-popular corpse. Before Taro had time to say, "Excuse me," the man jumped about a foot in the air, muttered a quick apology, and continued on his way, at a quickened pace. It looked like he _had_ been spooked by the man killed at the coffee shop. Or was it something else?

Keeping several paces behind the man, Taro managed to get a good look at him. He was probably in his late twenties, with thick black hair and a long trench coat. He was carrying a suitcase in one hand and a large manilla envelope under his other arm. He gave the impression of a man on a mission.

Taro couldn't put his finger on it, but something about the man's composure made him uneasy. He had obviously been unsettled by what he had seen, but he had neither walked closer to the scene to investigate nor deliberately avoided it; he had simply done his best to ignore it. Taro had also done that, but it was because he was familiar with the Death Note; he knew enough about it to know that it simply caused death, and there wasn't really anything more to it than that. Had the black-haired man reached the same stoic conclusion? Or had he ignored the dead man because he was putting on an act? And if it was an act, who was the audience? Taro didn't know, but both of those possibilities were worrying enough that he knew he needed to find out more.

Luckily, the Man got on the same train that Taro needed to take to get home. Once on the train, the Man sat down and barely moved a muscle. Taro sat down several seats down, and picked up a magazine that someone had left, so he could pretend to read while keeping an eye on his target. Briefly, he glimpsed a picture of a girl with blonde pig tails who was apparently called Misa-Misa. He groaned; well, hopefully, no one would think it was weird that a 14-year-old boy had his nose buried in a magazine full of scantily clad models.

The Man was now talking into his phone, very quietly. He certainly seemed to acting secretively, like he had something important to hide. Taro started to suspect that maybe he had gotten the wrong idea about Kira. If Kira was someone who had taken it upon himself to create a better world, but who secretly despised the murder that necessarily came with the Death Note's method, then Kira might not be a genocidal madman at all, but someone who was just as disgusted with the killings as Taro was, and who had become so appalled at what he had become that he jumped at every sound and carried out his daily routine with nervousness of a guilty man. And yet someone who had no choice but to continue his crusade.

Could it be that he had gotten so lucky (or unlucky) as to run straight into Kira? Purely by coincidence?

Now the Man had taken out his laptop. Taro checked the train's progress; if the man had gotten on the subway with a clear destination in mind, he should be getting off soon, as the train was almost done with its run. So why was he getting on his computer when he would just have to put it away in a few minutes? Taro strained neck casually to try and get a look at what he was doing.

From what he could tell, there were pictures of people on the screen. A shiver went down Taro's spine.

Then the Man pulled pieces of paper out of the envelope and began writing on them. Sheets from the Death Note? By now, Taro's frantic mind was sure that the Man was Kira, especially since he had been on the train through its entire circuit, with no indication he was going anywhere in particular. Kira spent a few more minutes writing on the paper, then put them back in the envelope. Then he just sat there, staring straight ahead, barely blinking.

Taro lost track of how long Kira sat there, but it seemed like he was waiting for something to happen. Then-

"Excuse me, could I borrow that once you're done?"

A woman asked him about his magazine. Taro was too stunned to say anything, but then he looked back at Kira and-he was getting off the train. "Uh, here, you can have it," he said, trying desperately to make his way off the train while it was still stopped. He didn't want to lose his quarry.

He stepped off the train one car over, and looked at Kira. He-

-clutched his chest-

-and collapsed to the ground.

No. Impossible.

Yet another crowd started to gather. What had just happened? Could he have made a mistake? Still, what was the odds that someone Taro was specifically following was one of Kira's targets?

Then he saw it. The Man, writhing in agony, reached up and deliberately looked at someone inside the train. That was where the real Kira was! Taro tried to get back on the train, but the doors were already closed, and the train began to move away.

It didn't make sense. Had the Man been following Kira, just as Taro had been following him? But if so, why had he been writing on what must have been sheets of the Death Note? Still, Kira _had_ been here; the man's reaction at the moment of his death was almost proof of that.

In any case, Taro knew better than to stick around. He was already late for dinner.

* * *

**By the way, I don't trust myself to just make up Japanese names, so whenever a non-canon Japanese character appears (like Mrs. Fujiwara), his/her name is comprised of mixing and matching the names of real Japanese people, usually taken from the Death Note cast. The made up characters have no connection to those great actors and actresses, and the use of their names is meant with every respect they are due.**


	4. Kira Strikes Back

**Thank you all for being so patient. I've been spending some time working on my blog, The Fanfic Skeptic, which is now ready to accept new, good, fanfiction writers. So if you write good gen fics, without slash pairings and Mary Sues, please consider joining the The Fanfic Skeptic, especially if you write for fandoms other than Death Note and South Park. We need as many writers (and readers) as we can get.**

**Now, on to Chapter 4**

* * *

After several days and a lot of thought, Taro had come up with an explanation.

Most likely, the Man had been working under Kira's orders. He was writing names on pages from the Death Note, while Kira was holding the Note itself. The first possibility was that he was deliberately laying a false trail for people who were trying to track Kira down, like Taro and L. Kira, who was also on the subway, might have noticed that his agent was being followed, and killed the Man to prevent being traced back to him. The only problem with that theory was that, if Kira was deliberately setting false trails, he would have eliminated Taro, not the man beings used as bait.

_Good_, thought Taro,_ because otherwise I would be in real trouble._

_Wait...who am I kidding? I'm definitely in real trouble. Unless L somehow discovers the Death Note, I technically know more about Kira than anyone, and that makes me his biggest threat, for all the good I can do. And for L to find the Death Note from scratch...well, he'd have to be like a super-genius or something._

Unfortunately, the second possibility was even more frightening. The Man could have been one of many agents Kira had placed all around the city (or the country, or even the world!) to be his eyes and ears and do his dirty work. That way, even if one of the agents somehow got caught, he would still be safe, like a spider in the center of his web. In which case, Kira would have killed the Man because (again) he saw that his agent was being followed. In which case, Taro was not dead either because Kira just didn't know his name, or because the agent was just that expendable.

Of course, that would make Kira practically untouchable, even if he were in the area. No matter what, he needed to be more careful. If Kira had even gotten a glimpse of his face, he might be able to track him down. And that was the last thing Taro wanted to happen.

* * *

Over the next few months, Taro continued to look for Kira. He made sure to keep up with all of the news broadcasts and media coverage involving Kira. Unlike the public, he knew what to look for. He knew that Kira couldn't kill just anyone; he needed to know their name and their face. Taro also knew that Kira was using a Death Note; in fact, he had become so hung up on that bit of information that he almost freaked out whenever he saw someone carrying a black notebook, until he inevitably remembered that Kira wouldn't be stupid enough to carry his weapon around in public.

However, he had given up on the whole private investigator scheme. The murder on the subway had proved that searching for Kira alone was even more dangerous than going to the police. Therefore, he had tried to contact L directly, and asked to join the task force; as much as he distrusted L, he knew that L would get the job done. However, the men at the police station couldn't (or wouldn't) direct him to L, and he couldn't really blame them; if they let just anybody meet L, Kira would have killed him long ago. It was also pretty unlikely that the task force would have taken a teenager seriously anyway. The officer-on-duty, Mr. Matsui, had offered to take a message to L, but without direct contact, Taro couldn't be absolutely sure it wouldn't end up in Kira's hands, so he had declined.

So Taro kept a close eye on the news. Unfortunately, he knew that the media couldn't release all the information about Kira (which was another reason why he had tried to contact L in the first place), so that left him with only an incomplete picture of what Kira had accomplished. Still it was better than nothing. And maybe the television stations themselves could provide him with information that they weren't giving the rest of the public. Stuff the police were telling them to keep secret.

But even then, he couldn't get an inside look. His dad, who worked in the television station, had refused to take Taro to work. "Being a newscaster is dangerous," he said. "You're attaching yourself to events that may be horrific, and people tend to associate you with them." Taro knew that, but he also knew it couldn't be more dangerous than riding the subway with a mass-murderer. Mr. Kagami became even more resistant to bringing Taro into the station after he began to suspect Taro wanted to learn about Kira. Still, Taro continued to beg and plead, and finally, his dad relented. He told Taro that he would show him around the studio after the 6:00 evening news was over.

The day was April 18th, 2004.

Taro was sitting in front of his TV at home, tuned in to Sakura TV. His dad usually was on the air just before the 6:00 news, but he wasn't one of the more prominent newscasters, so he didn't usually cover the big stories.

He was just about to put his jacket on and start walking towards the station, when something on the TV caught his eye. His dad was on, but he wasn't covering the traffic report tonight.

_"On April 15th, this TV station received an envelope containing a letter and four video tapes,_" Mr. Kagami said. As a newscaster, he was trained to keep a stoic attitude, but Taro knew his father, and he could tell that something about tonight's story was making him very frightened.

Mr. Kagami continued. "_The letter claims to be from Kira, and that the tapes are his message to the world. Kira has threatened to kill the president of our network if we do not broadcast his message. In other words, we are practically reporting this news as the hostages of Kira himself._"

Kira's hostages? _Dad?_

By now, Taro's mother had come into the room, and stood frozen, unable to take her eyes off the screen. Mr. Kagami assured then and the other viewers that the tapes were not a hoax; they had already predicted one of Kira's murders in order to prove their authenticity.

"_He instructed us to broadcast the second tape today at 5:59 PM. We have not watched it ourselves, but the tape should validate the other tapes, as well as bring Kira's message to the world._"

The clock at the bottom of the TV screen changed to 5:59. And with that, the image of Taro's dad cut away to reveal a white background with "Kira" written on it in black letters. A shiver went down Taro's spine; it was the exact same font and style as L's original message challenging Kira. Now, Kira was responding in kind.

And just like L, he spoke to the world through a synthesized voice box. "_I am Kira. If this is being aired at exactly 5:59 PM on April 18th as I requested, then it is 5:59:38 right now...39...40...Please change the channel to Taiyou TV: the news anchor will die of heart failure at exactly 6:00 PM._"

Before Taro could do anything, his mother had already grabbed the remote and changed the channel. Sure enough, the man who was now on the screen had clutched his chest and collapsed. His mother screamed, as Kira spoke again. "_That was the punishment for speaking in cynical terms against me on television._"

Taro gasped. Did Kira really have to prove his identity on live television? Probably, but why use a news anchor who had merely criticized him? It wasn't like when he had killed Lind L. Taylor; Taylor had specifically said he was going to hunt Kira down, so he was an actual threat. How could people support Kira if he killed innocent people?

His dad...if Kira would kill innocent people just to identify himself, he wouldn't hesitate to murder the hostages. In fact, it was a miracle that his father hadn't already been killed; it would have been easy for Kira to arrange for him to die as he was introducing the broadcast, and use that as identification.

This was personal now. Taro leaped up from his chair.

His mother yelled, "No! Come back!"

But Taro had already grabbed a hoodie and headed out the door.

* * *

Taro pulled the hood of his jacket down over his head, as he ran to the TV station. He knew that Kira wouldn't be able to kill him just from seeing his face, but he still didn't want Kira to know what he looked like.

The Sakura TV station loomed ahead. Taro could see that the police were already there, trying to enter the building. He let out a sigh of relief. They would get his father and the other people being held hostage out.

But then the policeman doubled over in pain...

...and collapsed, dead.

Taro stopped in his tracks. _Kira?_ But how could Kira have killed the policeman, even if he were watching the building; he needed a name. It couldn't be that he just happened to know who that particular officer was; that would be too much of a coincidence. Somehow, Kira _was able to kill him anyway!_

At this point, Taro wasn't thinking clearly. Then again, it was pretty understandable; if Kira actually were able to kill him (or anyone else) without knowing his name, then everything he had done to try and track Kira down had been much, much more dangerous than he had previously thought. And given the sense of paranoia that Taro experienced on a daily basis, his nerves were already on edge.

Then someone shouted, "Get in here, kid," and pulled him inside a building across the street. Taro looked up and saw that he was in a bar. Most of the patrons were staring at the body of the dead policeman outside; the rest of them were transfixed at the TV set in the bar, as Kira continued to speak:

"_Please give an answer as to whether or not the police will cooperate with me to create a new world four days from now, on April 22nd._"

Taro shivered. The police would never bow down to Kira. They just couldn't. But...looking at how scared these people were, it was only a matter of time before everyone gave up hope. Especially after Kira had just demonstrated how effortlessly he could kill.

"Are you alright?" someone asked. Taro looked up and saw the bartender; he must have been the one who pulled him inside. Unlike so many of the monsters created by Kira's regime, this man had a kind face.

Face, face...Kira had killed someone knowing only their face. How had he done that?

_Ryuk..._

Now that he thought about it, a shinigami would have to be able to know someone's name in order to use the Death Note as well. How did they do it? Taro smiled at the thought of a shinigami going online or asking people for someone's name; that would be silly. Somehow, they had a way of just _knowing_ someone's name.

Which meant that Ryuk could have told Kira what the policeman's name was. Or, since humans could use Death Notes, it would make sense that the shinigami might have some way of giving people this ability as well. And Ryuk hadn't mentioned this to him because...well, he was Ryuk; he got a kick out of watching people struggle.

Then Taro realized that the bartender was still waiting for him to respond. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said. "My dad's in the TV station. I wanted to go help him."

"That was very brave," the bartender said. "But it's too dangerous if Kira's watching."

"I know," Taro admitted. "I just hope my dad's okay." He was glad that the bartender, at least, seemed to see Kira as the killer that he was.

At that moment, an armored car came speeding past the bar. Taro and the bartender both looked up. Instead of stopping in front of the Sakura TV station, the van kept going...right through the glass doors in front of the building. Taro had never seen anything like it. Then he realized; that's how the police were getting into the building without being seen.

Over the next few minutes, more police cars showed up at the scene. When the cops got out, Taro saw that they were all wearing riot helmets to cover their faces. Right about then, Kira's broadcast ended, and instead Taro heard a megaphone directed at the officers outside: "Alright, there's reason to believe that Kira is in the vicinity; retreat while attempting to conceal yourselves."

"Retreat?" Taro said. "What about my dad? He's still inside!"

"Don't worry," the bartender said. "Now that the broadcast is over, it should be safe for him to come out. You can stay until he gets here."

Taro nodded, and sat down at one of the empty tables. "Can I have some milk?"

The bartender poured him a glass. "Sure. On the house."

"Thanks," Taro said, smiling. The milk was thick and warm, and very calming.

"Ah, Miss Amane, you leaving us?" The bartender called to a young woman walking down the stairs from one of the upper rooms.

"Yep, all done," the girl said.

"You certainly were up there a long time," the bartender said. "Was our humble establishment sufficient for the...needs of a celebrity like yourself?"

Miss Amane opened her mouth to reply, then grinned. "Really, now, you should know better than to pry into a young lady's private life." Then she winked at Taro, and walked out the door, bumping into a man who was coming in.

"Excuse me, miss," he said.

Taro jumped up. "Dad!"

"Hello, son," Mr. Kagami said.

Taro ran up and hugged him. "I was so worried."

"Yeah, we all were. But it's alright, now."

Taro smiled, feeling like the 14-year-old that he was, and not like one of the few who stood between the world and Kira. Kira may be more powerful than before, but tonight, Taro and his family were still alive. That was enough of a victory for now.


	5. The Meeting in Aoyama

**Okay, I know most of you don't exactly care that much, but I do feel I should point out an error. I had originally dated Light picking up the Death Note (the beginning of Kira's reign, in Chapter 1) as being in October, 2003, when it's actually on November 23, 2003, according to the timeline on the Death Note Wiki. I went back and fixed it, and now that I have the timeline at my disposal, all new dates should be "correct."**

* * *

It turned out that Mr. Kagami's boss, Hitoshi Demegawa, had chosen to broadcast the tape from Kira without the permission of the network executives, placing his employees in danger to get higher ratings. In an indignant rage, Mr. Kagami had quit his job at Sakura TV, and was promptly hired by NHN, who were disgusted with Sakura TV's actions but impressed with Mr. Kagami's courage while on the air.

NHN weren't the only ones who were angry about the broadcast. Many of Japan's citizens were outraged that Kira had gone so far as to kill people who had merely criticized him. A lot of people who had previously supported Kira now claimed that he had gone too far, and began to see him for the murderer that he was.

So when it was announced that there was another message from Kira, which the police had given the TV station permission to air, many people were much less receptive to the idea. But when the broadcast started, the calligraphy was smoother and more flowing, and Taro could tell that the voice was more authoritative than the previous broadcast. As much as he hated to admit it, this one did feel much more like a god speaking to his people, and less like a terrorist.

"_I am Kira. The person who sent in the tapes a few days ago is nothing more than an impersonator._"

Taro gulped. _An impostor?_ But he had definitely killed people, which meant that he was no ordinary impostor. That must mean that there were now two Kiras, which meant that there were two Death Notes in the human world. At least. Had reigning death upon Earth now become a popular sport among the shinigami?

The real Kira spoke directly to the new one: "_Killing innocent policemen to cover your tracks is unacceptable. Such actions will only create panic and destroy my reputation. If you are truly on my side and wish to help me, then do not act so brashly. If you do not heed my warning, I will punish you without hesitation._"

Taro scoffed. Kira had some nerve to scold the impostor over creating panic and killing innocent people. However, that did explain why the broadcast had been sloppy enough for public opinion to backfire; the new killer had been too brutal, even by Kira's own twisted standards. However, by distancing himself from the fake Kira murders, the real Kira was working to get back the public's support. He was definitely not an idiot.

Things became even stranger two days later when the fake Kira responded with another message. "_Kira! Thanks for replying! I'll do what you say!_"

Taro frowned. Now that the fake was no longer masquerading as the real one, the tone seemed very different. It wasn't just that he agreed with the original (to some extent); he seemed almost like...a fan. Also, just from listening to the words themselves (because the voice was still synthesized), Taro thought it sounded like a girl. A fangirl?

_Great_, Taro thought._ First the Death Note falls into the hands of a megalomaniac who thought himself a god. Now another one is in the hands of someone who sounds like a teenage fangirl. Could things get any worse?_

The fake Kira continued. "_I want to meet you, Kira._"

Definitely a fangirl.

"_I don't think you have the eyes yet, but don't worry, I would never try to kill you._"

Eyes? Maybe that's how the fake Kira was able to kill people without already knowing their names. She..._saw_ the names somehow.

"_Please think of a way that we can meet without getting caught by the police. When we meet, we can just confirm our identities with our god of death._"

Taro gaped. The fake Kira had actually mentioned the shinigami. Had she forgotten that the whole world would see this message along with Kira? If she wasn't careful, she would spill all of his secrets, which was bad for Kira, but good for Taro and the police.

Whatever the eyes were, they obviously were something significant, which was just another reason for Kira to get mad and try to shut her up. Which might be a good thing, since she was obviously so dangerous, but...since she was so sloppy, it might be easier to find her, and through her, Kira. Especially since she seemed to be planning a meeting...

* * *

The original Kira was strangely quiet for several days, most likely to discourage furthering their public conversation and avoid the meeting. Then again, if he did meet her, he would be able to kill her, and Taro was sure that was tempting for him.

With no response, the fake Kira sent another message. It was a diary from this time last year, with entries and events written on certain dates. Judging from some of the entries, it was even more apparent that this fake Kira was a probably a girl, roughly in upper high school or college (unless the fake Kira was deliberately maintaining that illusion). The whole thing was obviously supposed to be a message written in code.

Looking at the last entry, Taro groaned. It read: "_May 30th: saw god of death at Giants game in the Tokyo dome." _Some code; if this were aired, everyone in Japan would know that the two Kiras were planning to meet at the Giants game on May 30th. Which meant that the real Kira wouldn't dare to show up, and if the two Kiras didn't meet, it would be that much harder to catch them.

Then Taro looked at the diary a bit more closely, and gasped. There was an entry for May 22nd: "_met with friend in Aoyama and exchanged notes._" Hmm...notes...as in, Death Notes? Maybe the fake Kira was more clever than he realized; the police would see the god of death reference, and ignore everything else, while the real message was to meet in Aoyama on the 22nd. But that would only be apparent to those who knew about the Death Note, which was only Kira.

_And me._

Kira would probably risk trying to meet the fake Kira there, thinking that no one was on to them. And even if the police did go, they wouldn't know what to look for. Which meant that Taro would have to look for Kira on his own again.

* * *

When May 22nd rolled around, Taro set out to Aoyama with a notepad. He had debated whether or not to come up with some excuse for going to Aoyama on this particular day; among other things, asking Sayu on a date had occurred to him. Eventually, he had just decided that he would say nothing if he was asked (although he would have to be careful, since it was possible the fake Kira would be able to see his name and kill him). Besides, if he ever decided to ask Sayu out, he wanted it to be a real date, not a reconnaissance mission in disguise.

Now that he thought about it, she had been taking up some of his thoughts during what little free time he had...

_Come on, focus. I need to find Kira._

The objective was simple: spot two people who were carrying black notebooks. The diary had specifically said they would exchange notes, so they had to bring the Death Notes with them. Taro would try to get a good look at them, then write down what they looked like, either to bring to the police or to use himself.

One thing was for sure: he couldn't afford to fail. If both Kiras were bringing their Death Notes, this would be the best opportunity he would have to catch them in the act. He wouldn't get another chance; that much was obvious.

The only problem was that Aoyama was huge. There were thousands of people here, and most of them were walking from place to place, so he had no idea where to start looking. He turned around and saw a young woman sitting in the nearby cafe with a black notebook in front of her. She was writing in it.

_Well, might as well start here_, Taro thought. Stepping casually out of the woman's field of vision, he took out his notepad and started writing down the features of his potential suspect. _Short black hair, blue eyes, short stature, red-_

_-wait a minute_. The notebook in front of the woman was too small to be the Death Note. Now that he was standing behind her, he could see that she was writing a check. Just an innocent woman paying for her meal. False alarm.

Taro then glanced out across the plaza...and froze, having spotted something moving along the street. "No way," he breathed.

It was Ryuk. Taro could still see Ryuk.

_Of course_, Taro realized. _Ryuk never took away my memories of the Death Note, which means I can still recognize him, the original owner. Why did I not realize that before? He'll lead me straight to Kira!_

But Ryuk was moving in the opposite direction. He was almost out of sight already.

Taro ran out into the street after him. But in his rush, he accidentally bumped into an old man, who fell sprawling to the sidewalk. "Pay attention to where you're going, you hooligan!" he shouted. But Taro didn't stop, pushing and shoving his way through the crowded shopping area. Someone shouted, "Watch it, asshole!" but Taro still didn't stop; he had to catch up with Ryuk. He reached for the notepad in his pocket, and-

-it was gone. It must have fallen out in all the commotion. Taro looked behind him, but saw only the old man, clutching his arm and looking straight at him. "That's him! The idiot who knocked me down!" Standing next to the man were two angry looking police officers.

Taro panicked. He began running as fast as he could.

"Stop!" ordered the policemen.

"Stop!" shouted Taro at Ryuk. "Come back!"

He finally broke free of the crowd. Now, there was no one between him and the person Ryuk was following. Taro stopped to get his first look at Kira-

-then his heart fell into his stomach. Ryuk was hovering above a large group of older teenagers, who were all walking so close together that it was impossible to tell who the shinigami was shadowing. Kira had been prepared for this. The group didn't even notice him.

Just then, the policemen caught up with him. "Causing a disturbance? You're in a heap of trouble, boy," one of them said gruffly.

As the teenagers turned the corner, Ryuk glanced back. He and Taro locked eyes. The shinigami smiled and winked. Then he vanished from sight.

"But he's there!" Taro wailed in despair as the cops carried him away. "HE'S RIGHT THERE!"

* * *

**Will Taro ever be able to undo Kira's crimes? The hunt continues...**

**Don't forget to review**


	6. A New World

**I recently just finished reading Ohba and Obata's other manga, _Bakuman_, and for a manga about two kids who write manga, it is seriously awesome. Really. It may be the best manga of any I've ever read, INCLUDING _Death Note!_**

**Okay, blasphemous statement over :P Enjoy Chapter 6**

* * *

Later that evening, Taro began the ride home from the police station.

Of course they hadn't believed him when he told them he had seen Kira. After all, it wasn't like he had any way to prove it; his story was so far-fetched to begin with, and he would have no way to back it up since the eraser was useless without the Death Note. They were convinced he had just made the whole thing up after causing a ruckus in town, and had threatened to lock him up for the night before his dad arrived and paid the fine.

Now he was at home. Sitting in front of his parents, feeling like he was on trial.

"Taro, what's gotten into you?" his father demanded. "Creating a disturbance? Saying that you were looking for Kira? In fact, all of your behavior these past few months has been really strange, and I think we have the right to know why."

And so, Taro told the truth. The whole truth. About how he had picked up the Death Note, kept it in his possession for a few days, and then eventually brought back all the people he had killed, and gave the Death Note back to Ryuk, which was possibly the worst mistake he had ever made. He also told them how he had been trying to correct his mistake by finding that Death Note again, and if he could, undoing the damage Kira had done.

After he finished, there was a long moment of silence. His father looked like he was about to yell at him, say he didn't believe a word of it, and to stop telling ridiculous lies that would get him killed. But before he could say a word, Taro's mother said, "I believe you, Taro."

Taken aback, Father said, "But even if he is telling the truth, that just makes it worse. Searching for Kira? Who has made it quite clear that anyone who tries to find him will be killed?"

Mother crossed her arms. "So you think we should just bow down to the will of a mass murderer? What happened to the brave newscaster who stood up fearlessly under pressure?"

"That was before Kira held me and my colleagues as hostages," Father snapped. "And before my son became a Kira hunter!"

"Stop!" Taro shouted. His parents were silent.

"Dad, I know that looking for Kira is really dangerous. But...it's my responsibility. Because those deaths are my fault. If I hadn't given the notebook to Ryuk...if I had just kept it or destroyed it somehow, none of this would have happened.

"Do you know how that feels? I could have prevented all of this. But just because I couldn't stand to be anywhere near that horrible notebook, thousands of people are now dead! I can't just do nothing! I'm responsible! It's my fault!"

Months of repressed guilt rushed through Taro. He knew that confessing his secret would help lift the weight off of his shoulders, but bringing everything to the surface and saying it out loud was much more painful than he had imagined. His parents could see that, and his father softened his scowl.

"I'm sorry, Taro," he said. "It was wrong of me to say that. I was just scared. As I know you are too."

Taro nodded that he understood.

"But please listen to me," Father said, gripping Taro's shoulders. "Those deaths are not your fault; there was no way you could have known what the...shinigami...would do. You can't keep blaming yourself for what's happened. But I would blame myself if I let anything happen to you.

"I'm only going to say this once: please don't go looking for Kira anymore. You have your whole life ahead of you, and there are men who are much more experienced than you who are trying to bring Kira to justice. Perhaps when you're older, if Kira hasn't been found, you can resume your search. But right now, you're still a child, and it's my responsibility to make sure you're safe."

Taro wanted to protest, but he knew his father was right. "What if I just told the police about the Death Note?"

His father shook his head. "As long as the shinigami is on Kira's side, we can't be sure it won't be traced back to you. Ryuk knows your name; if the notebook becomes common knowledge, he'll be able to tell Kira exactly who you are."

_He's right_, Taro realized. _In fact, it _is_ a miracle I'm still alive in the first place._

Taro looked his father right in the eye. "Dad, I'm going to start training to be a police officer. Once I'm an adult and I've finished training, I'll be able to bring Kira to justice."

"And when that day comes," Father said, "I'll be very proud of you."

Taro smiled.

* * *

As it turned out, Taro's dream of becoming a policeman soon collapsed. Within months, the police officially pulled out of the Kira search, meaning that there was no point in joining them.

Time passed. Kira's judgments became more and more fierce, and more and more people became sympathetic to his cause. What had once been verbal sympathy through private conversations and the internet, were now public pledges of support from celebrities, organizations, and eventually, even entire nations. Powerful men announced that they would send monetary support to Kira if he so desired it, and several countries had vowed that their military would protect him in the event that he was ever captured. At this rate, L seemed doomed to eventually become outlawed in Kira's world. Still, with a few frequent assurances that he was still around, it seemed like L was ready to fight to the bitter end.

Unlike Kira and L, the fake Kira had vanished. Aside from one last message announcing that she had found Kira, she hadn't been seen or heard from since the apparent meeting in Aoyama. Taro just assumed it was because the two Kiras had met, and were now working together. Either that, or Kira had killed her. But in any case, there was nothing that Taro could do about it.

By 2007, the general public had begun to personally assist Kira in his quest for global cleansing. Kira internet forums invited people to post names and pictures of people who they felt deserved to be judged by Kira. In other words, anyone could put your name on the internet, and you could die. Names became a precious commodity. People were more distant and mistrustful, and almost never gave their name to anyone. It became extremely popular to use nicknames even among close friends, and in the world of business, people often used aliases.

And through it all, criminals continued to die and crime rates continued to drop. Despite the fear and mistrust, Kira had indeed brought the world peace. But it was a peace paid with the blood of thousands.

Taro Kagami continued high school, with the highest grades of anyone in his class. He had grown more introverted and isolated, as he was perhaps more fearful of Kira than anyone. By the time his class graduated in the spring of 2007, he was no longer on speaking terms with any of his former friends except Sayu, and that was only occasionally. It wasn't that he thought any of them were Kira; he was just carrying a faint hope that they might forget his name.

At the graduation ceremony, he made a very short and unmemorable speech as valedictorian. _The less people remember me, the better_, he thought. Still, he tried to be civil, and was sure to say a proper goodbye to his former classmates, as he didn't intend to see most of them again.

The next day, Taro went out into the working world. He applied for his first job under the name Sota Nakamura. He had always known he would use an alias when he grew up, but the instant his new boss addressed him by it, he felt odd, like he had changed. His old life was over.

The boy who was once known as Taro Kagami no longer existed.

* * *

Taro's plan was simple. He would go into the news station business, and hopefully become one of the video editors. From there, he would be able to sift through and look at all the footage and surveillance that came the news station's way. With all those cameras, he just might be able to spot Ryuk if he was flying around anywhere. And since Ryuk was following Kira around, if he found Ryuk, he would find Kira.

He also decided that the TV station he would join would be Sakura TV, as they were always the ones playing the pro-Kira propaganda. When Kira inevitably took direct control over the media, Taro had no doubt it would be through Sakura TV. And the closer Kira was to Sakura TV, the greater chance Taro would have to catch him.

Of course, that still left the problem of what to do once he found Kira, but that could be sorted out later.

Taro was quickly hired by the greedy news station, but it took over two years to work his way up to Executive Video Editor. 2009...almost six whole years since Kira had first appeared. But now, Taro was the eyes and ears of one of Japan's most popular TV channels. There was no way that Kira (or rather, Ryuk) could escape him.

October 11...first day...nothing. But then, that was to be expected. Ryuk wasn't likely to show up that quickly.

Still, though, he was in a good mood. Now that he was in position to nail down Kira, he felt like celebrating as he left the TV station.

_Let's see, how should I celebrate? Maybe I should ask Sayu out._ Sure, it could be stressful, but they had remained close friends this whole time, and Taro thought she might like him in return.

_That's what I'll do._ He pulled out his phone, and dialed Sayu's number, thinking of a nice evening at The Note Blue. Or perhaps she might insist on eating at her family's house; Mrs. Yagami did make great food.

Sayu wasn't answering. _That's odd._

Then Taro heard a faint ringing, he looked down and saw a cell phone lying on the ground. He picked it up, and saw _Call from Sota_ on the screen. With a jolt, he realized that it was Sayu's phone. _What was Sayu's phone doing laying in the middle of the street?_

Then the phone rang again. Hands shaking, Taro answered it. "Hello?"

_"Who is this?"_ Taro recognized the voice. It was Light, Sayu's older brother.

"Light, this is Sota. Sayu's friend?" Sayu had introduced Taro to her family under his alias, as he had never properly met them while he was in high school. She thought Taro's paranoia was kind of funny but he didn't really mind. As far as he knew, none of the Yagamis except Sayu knew what his real name was.

_"Why are you answering the phone?"_ Light sounded angry, and also a little scared.

"I found Sayu's phone on the sidewalk, a few blocks from your house. Do you know where she is?"

Light didn't say anything. That silence filled Taro's heart with dread. Then he heard the dial tone.

"Light?" he yelled desperately into the phone, even though he knew Light couldn't hear him. "You have to tell me where Sayu is!"


	7. Plan B

The next week was one of the hardest in Taro's life. He contacted the Yagami family every day, asking if any information had come in about Sayu. Even after Sayu began answering the phone, either Light or Mr. Yagami would jump in and say she couldn't talk to anyone. From the tiny bits of information he was able to glean from the daily phone calls, it seemed like Sayu Yagami had been held for ransom for a few days, and had fortunately been returned to her family safely.

A kidnapping? In broad daylight? It was practically unheard of in this period, where crime was more dangerous than ever.

On October 18, Mrs. Yagami called and told him that Sayu was asking for him. He went straight to her house from work, and arrived to see that she was in pretty bad shape. She was constantly shaking, and her eyes were red and puffy; it clear that she had been through a terrible ordeal. And as much as Taro desperately wanted to know what had happened, he knew he couldn't bring it up. Whatever it was, it was the last thing she need to be thinking about right now.

"Sayu...are you all right?" Immediately after saying this, he mentally kicked himself. _What was that about? Of course she's not alright!_

However, Sayu didn't seem to mind. "I'm feeling much better," she whispered, smiling weakly.

Mrs. Yagami stepped in. "The doctor says she needs plenty of rest, and so next week we're going out to the country for a little while. She said she wanted to catch you before we left."

Sayu looked at her mother. "Mom, could you please make us some tea?"

"Of course, dear," Mrs Yagami said, then she walked out of the room.

As soon as her mother was gone, Sayu said, "I need to tell you what happened..."

Taro wanted to tell her to let it all out, but he forced the words down. "No, don't talk. It's fine."

"No, it's not, Taro. There's something really wrong." She still called him Taro whenever the rest of her family wasn't around.

"About what?"

Sayu sighed. "It's Dad. I've never seen him so upset."

"Well, he's worried about you. What kind of father wouldn't be upset after what's happened?"

"But it's more than that," Sayu insisted. "Ever since he came to get me, he looks like he feels really guilty about something. He's trying to hide it from everyone, especially me, but we can tell. I need to figure it out."

"Wouldn't it be better to discuss it with your family?" Taro asked.

Sayu shook her head. "Mom keeps telling me I shouldn't think about what's happened, so I can't talk to her. And I'm sure Light knows why, but he won't talk about it either. It's some kind of secret between the two of them."

Taro supposed that if she was that eager to talk about it, he wouldn't stop her. Sayu told him about how the Mafia had picked her up on the way home from university. They had not treated her terribly and they hadn't physically abused her, at least as far as Sayu could remember. However, they had made it pretty clear that they were ready to kill her if their demands were not met.

"And what were their demands?" Taro asked.

"They kept talking about a notebook."

Taro froze. _Notebook?_ Could it be...?

"At the exchange, they put me in a rotating glass door. When Dad showed up, the Mafia guy said that he would shoot me if Dad didn't slide the notebook into the glass door. Dad did it, but then the Mafia guy said something about having to test it. He wrote something in the notebook, waited about a minute, and then let me go."

Taro could feel his hand shaking. "This notebook...was it...black?"

Sayu thought about it. "Yeah, I think it was."

_The Death Note. But what was Mr. Yagami doing with the Death Note? And what does the Mafia have to do with this?_

"Sayu, your dad and your brother are working on the Kira case, aren't they?"

Sayu didn't say anything. Taro quickly added, "It's okay if you can't tell me. I guess it kind of have to be a secret."

"No, it's alright. They _are_ working on the Kira case, but you have to swear not to tell anyone else."

Taro nodded. "I promise."

Sayu then looked sad again. "What was that notebook?" she wondered aloud to herself. "Why did Dad seem so reluctant to give it up, even though he had to do it to save me?" She looked at Taro, and he wasn't able to hide his look of shock fast enough. "You know, don't you?" she said. "Somehow, you know."

Taro was trapped. He didn't want to lie to her, especially since she was so worried about her father. However, if he gave her his suspicions, she was sure to ask how he knew, and even though he trusted her, he didn't want to bring her into this mess.

_Although, the Mafia have apparently already brought her into this mess._

Furthermore, if he told her that her dad had given the Mafia a very powerful weapon, and put even more lives at risk, in order to protect her, she might feel even more guilty.

But in the end, he had to tell her the truth. "If I tell you this, _you_ have to promise not to tell anyone else."

Sayu opened her mouth, then stopped. "Even Dad?"

"Even him." _If Mr. Yagami really did have the Death Note somehow, then he surely already knows what I'm about to say anyway. Same goes for Light._

"I promise," Sayu agreed.

Taro breathed deeply and took the plunge. "I think that notebook is how Kira kills people."

Sayu was silent for a minute. "How-"

"I can't tell you how I know," Taro said. "At least not yet. But what I can say is that there is a special notebook that Kira has. If you write someone's name in that notebook, that person dies. That's how he kills people."

Sayu's eyes widened as she began to understand. She made no comment as to whether she thought he was telling the truth or not. "That would mean...that my dad had this notebook. How is that possible?"

"I guess that means that your dad, and the others who are trying to catch Kira, are much closer than I thought they were. Somehow, they got a hold of one of the Death Notes. But Kira's still got one, probably from the fake Kira, and then the Mafia-"

Taro stopped and shook his head. There was too much going on; it would impossible to connect all the dots. Ultimately he had no idea how things had come to this point, and there was no point in trying to find out. Besides, he was already working to find Kira on his own; he didn't need to worry about what the police were doing at this point.

Sayu looked like she was getting ready to start crying, but Taro held her hand. "Just remember. Your father is a good man, a great man even. If he took the chance that someone would use the Death Note, it was because he loves you very much, and didn't want anything to happen to you."

Taro hoped that didn't sound too harsh. He knew that Mr. Yagami had done it for his daughter, and that was what she needed to hear right now.

_I wonder what I would do if I were given that choice_, he thought. _If I had known Ryuk would give the Death Note to someone who wouldn't hesitate to use it, could I have willingly done that? For anything? Mr. Yagami may have made the best choice, but there was no way it was an easy one._

Just then, Mrs. Yagami brought in the tea and they had to end their conversation.

The rest of the afternoon consisted of Mrs. Yagami and Taro keeping Sayu company. Not wanting to impose on them for dinner, Taro excused himself around 6 and headed back to his apartment for the night. After walking in the door, he quickly checked his phone messages. There was only one.

It was a message from Sakura TV. He had been fired!

* * *

The timing couldn't have been worse.

While he had been so worried about Sayu, his work at Sakura TV had been steadily declining. His work had gotten sloppier and sloppier, and when he had left work early to see her, Demegawa had apparently had enough.

Taro wasn't sorry that he had gone to make sure Sayu was okay. But still...two years wasted! The whole plan gone down the drain, and after only a week! Taro half considered calling Sayu, but decided against it; she was getting ready to go on her vacation in the country and there was no reason to bother her with this.

That left the backup plan. A plan that was much riskier, and much less likely to work.

* * *

About a month later, Taro handed his finished manuscript to Akira Hattori, one of the junior editors of Weekly Jump magazine.

"Well, just like you promised, Mr. Muto, this is really interesting," Hattori said. "Speculative fiction on the origins of Kira. The readers will definitely go for this."

"Good," Taro (or rather _Ashirogi Muto_) said. _If I keep coming up with new aliases, even I won't be able to keep track of them. _"Just remember, I don't want my picture anywhere in this magazine."

"Of course," Hattori said. "Although, if 'The Death Note' turns out to be as big a hit as I think it will be, you'll have plenty of people who'll want to meet you."

_That's what I'm counting on._ "Well, if anyone wants to meets me, don't give them my contact information, but be sure to let me know they dropped by."

"Will do," Hattori assured him as he walked out.

Taro felt kind of bad about using the editors of Jump in this scheme, but he really had no choice. If he told them that the manga was not speculative fiction at all, and that Kira himself might show up, there was no way they would have published it. Fortunately, if Kira did show up, he would probably just show up and ask about the author, since killing all the editors wouldn't give him the answer he was looking for. If that happened, Taro would hopefully be able to catch them on the security cameras. He would be able to pick out Kira immediately if Ryuk was with him.

_It should work_, Taro thought. _Then again, there's always a million things that can go wrong when you use yourself as bait._

Taro's one-shot, "The Death Note" came out in Weekly Jump on November 25. For a while, nothing happened. Taro tried to call Sayu, but she never answered. He tried to get back into the newscaster business, this time at NHN, now that he was no longer busy writing "The Death Note." If this plan didn't work, he figured he could always try the video editor plan again.

Then, one evening, about a week after "The Death Note" was published, Taro returned to his apartment to see a dark shape standing before him. He yelled, and fell to the ground in shock, feeling almost like he was 13 years old again. The shape looked at Taro with glowing eyes, and smiled toothily.

"Long time, no see," Ryuk chuckled. "Got any apples?"

* * *

**Ryuk has appeared. What will happen now? ****Don't forget to review. Otherwise, Ryuk will get you :P**

**I found out about the aforementioned _Bakuman_ AFTER I decided to include Taro having written a manga about the Death Note, but that was all I could think about while writing this chapter. So I decided that Taro would choose Ashirogi Muto as his pen name, since that's the main characters' pen name from _Bakuman_. That's also where the character of Hattori comes from. Just thought I'd bring that up.**


	8. A Deal with the Death God

**Okay, I want to talk about the future for a moment.**

**I know that I had a poll on my profile, asking you readers which story you wanted me to work on after "The Secret Rule" was finished. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that I had already promised my South Park readers that my next story would be "It Began with a Question," which is my Mysterion origin story. So that poll has been taken down (not many people had actually voted on it anyway).**

**Additionally, the two stories after that will be Episode 1 of my "Star Trek: Renegade" series (because the sooner I get that series started the better I'll be able to space the remaining episodes out), and my Percy Jackson story "One of Them" (because it will introduce my OC, who may appear in later stories, as I see fit).**

**So, the new poll is which story do you all want me to work on after THAT. Repeat, after "The Secret Rule" (now at 8 chapters, projected to be between 15 and 20 chapters), "It Began with a Question" (will be 9 chapters), "Star Trek: Renegade, Episode 1" (about 5 chapters), and "One of Them" (about 5 chapters as well) are all finished. The choices include:**

**"Josh" (South Park), a parody of a certain 2001 movie (big South Park fans could probably figure it out if they really thought about it).**

**"To Be the Best" (Death Note), chronicling the events of Mello's life after he leaves Wammy's House.**

**"The Love of the Gods" (Percy Jackson), chronicling Luke, Thalia, and Annabeth on their original journey to Camp Half Blood.**

**So please vote for whichever of these stories you want to see the most (although, as I said, it will still be a while).**

**And now, back to Taro and Ryuk...**

* * *

Taro blinked. "Ryuk?"

"Yep. We meet again at last," the shinigami laughed. "After all this time. I was beginning to think you'd given up."

Taro shook his head. "No. There may have been a few years that I wasn't actively looking for Kira, but I never gave up."

Ryuk laughed again. "I knew you wouldn't. Humans are...so interesting."

_Interesting?_ Taro pushed that to the back of his mind. "You didn't tell Kira about me, did you?"

"Me? No, of course not. Why spoil the fun?" Then Ryuk held up the copy of Weekly Jump, with Taro's story featured on the cover. "Although you didn't exactly make yourself hard to find. As soon as I saw this, I knew you had been the one to write it."

Taro shrugged.

"In fact..." Ryuk said, looking at the manga a little closer, "this _is_ you, isn't it?"

Taro nodded. "The one-shot's basically all about how you brought the Death Note to me seven years ago. It's a horror story, about a kid who suddenly has the power to kill people. All the names have been changed, of course."

"Naturally," Ryuk said. "That would be, what, your fourth fake name?"

Taro smiled. "Fourth _name_. _Third_ fake name." Now that the two of them had actually gotten talking, it was amazing how cheerful Ryuk seemed. It was like talking to an old friend. Taro liked that; he didn't have many old friends that he was still on good terms with. It was almost easy to forget that-

_-oh yeah, Ryuk's responsible for a lot of deaths_. Taro breathed deeply. _I've got to remember that_.

"Anyway, but the story's not that important," Taro went on. "What I really wanted was to see what people thought of the idea of a Death Note. Take a look at this questionnaire section." Taro flipped to the back of the magazine.

Ryuk read a few of the questions. "'Do you want a Death Note? Would you write people's names in it, and if so, whose?' This is some pretty neat stuff. But the one I really like is the last one." Ryuk pointed at the final question:

_"Would you want the Death Note exist in someone else's hands?"_

Ryuk laughed. "That's pretty clever. It'll definitely make some people stop and think about whether Kira in charge is really a good idea. That's a clever strategy: even while you've set bait to lure Kira towards you, you're subtly turning the readers' opinions against him. I'm impressed."

Taro couldn't help but grin at the praise. "Why do you look so happy, Ryuk? At this rate, I'll have your partner caught in no time."

Ryuk tilted his head. "Partner? I think you've really got the wrong idea about me. I'm not Kira's partner."

"You're not?"

"Nope. I'm not on Kira's side at all. Or anyone's, for that matter."

"I guess I thought you would at least be rooting for Kira, since he kills people, and you're a god of death and all that," Taro said.

"Not really," Ryuk said. "Killing people is a bore to the shinigami; we only do it to stay alive ourselves. Just seeing more people die doesn't give us any inherent benefit or pleasure. It's...the action."

"The action?" Taro asked.

"Precisely," Ryuk explained. "It's like you watching those TV shows. Heroes and villains fighting it out. You don't always know who's going to win; in fact, who wins in the end doesn't even really matter. But you still watch it. Because seeing the struggle itself is worth it."

Taro understood. "So it really is just a big game to you? You're just playing with people's lives."

"Well, like you said, I'm a shinigami. I cause death; human lives don't really mean that much to me." Then Ryuk paused. "If it's any consolation, I did tell Kira I may kill him too someday. So you never know; I may be the one to do all of you a favor in the end."

Taro somehow doubted that would happen. "Speaking of which, where is Kira? I thought that you were haunting him and you had to stay by his side. How come you're here on your own?"

Ryuk grimaced. "Well, it's a little bit complicated. All you really need to know is that I'm running a few errands for Kira."

"Wait," Taro interrupted. "I thought you weren't working for him?"

"I'm not. Not exactly..." Ryuk looked kind of embarrassed. "He kind of blackmailed me. I love apples, see, and he orders me to do what he says, so long as it's not something too important, or he won't give me any apples." Ryuk noticed a gleam in Taro's eye. "And I definitely shouldn't have told you that, right?" he muttered.

Now it was Taro's turn to chuckle. "Ryuk, if you tell me who Kira is, I'll get you the biggest, reddest, juiciest apples you've ever eaten." He could see Ryuk's mouth watering. It was a rather unpleasant sight.

"Sorry, I'm not falling for that," he said, although it looked like he was struggling. "You don't have the...how should I put it..._charisma_ that Kira does. He can be real scary when he wants to be."

"Well, it was worth a shot," Taro said. He hadn't really expected Ryuk to be so helpful. "So you were just running one of Kira's errands, happened to see the manga, and decided to drop in for a friendly visit?"

"Pretty much," Ryuk said. "Although I did have something I wanted to ask you."

"What?"

Ryuk pointed at the image of the shinigami in the magazine. "How come this guy doesn't look anything like me? Did you not want to scare the children?"

Taro shook his head. "Well, I didn't want to make it too obvious."

"Didn't want to make what too obvious?"

"Think about it, Ryuk," Taro explained. "If I named the shinigami in the story Ryuk, and made it look just like you, Kira would know for sure that someone knew his secret, and he'd be much more likely to suspect a trap. With this, it's possible he might think it's just a coincidence. He'll still take a look, of course, but he'd probably do it more casually."

Ryuk frowned. "I don't know. You have the name 'Death Note' here and everything. It'd be pretty hard to ignore that. Of course, what you don't know about Kira is how smart he really is. He'd probably see through this plan in a second. Whenever you try to catch him, you have to assume he's already five moves ahead of you."

Taro gulped. "Really?"

"Yeah. Of course, his enemies are just as smart. That's what makes it so much fun." Ryuk cackled. "But if you want my opinion, I think you're safe."

"What do you mean?"

"Kira's in a really tough spot right now. I kind of doubt he would have time to read mangas and notice this, unless it became much more popular. Which means you won't catch him, but he also probably won't be able to backtrack this manga to you. Even that proxy of his is probably too busy." Ryuk gasped and covered his mouth, but it was too late.

"Aha!" Taro yelled. "So he _does_ have people working for him?" _Wait...crap..._

"Yeah," Ryuk shrugged. "It's not that big a deal. In fact, that's the errand I was running. Kira needs to throw some people off his trail, so he had me give the Death Note to this other guy so he could judge in Kira's place and throw everyone off the trail."

_I guess that makes Kira pretty much untouchable._ "So, you're on your way back to Kira, now?"

"Yes," Ryuk said. Then, seeing the look in Taro's eye, he added, "But I think I'll just hang out here for a little while, until you go to sleep. Just to make sure you don't try and follow me."

_Shit! There's just nothing I can do._

"Since I'll be here for a little while," Ryuk said, "why don't we just have a chat? You can ask me anything you want, except who Kira is." He nonchalantly "sat" down in one of the chairs, although he was still hovering a few inches above it.

Taro really wasn't in the mood to play Ryuk's games, but he figured, since Ryuk had made the offer, he might as well take him up on it. "What are 'the eyes?'"

"The eyes?" Ryuk looked amazed. "You really have been doing your homework. A shinigami can see a person name and lifespan just by looking at them. We can also give this power to any human who owns a Death Note, but in return, they have to give us half of their remaining lifespan."

_I was right._ "An exchange, huh? And the fake Kira made this...trade, right?"

Ryuk nodded.

"Okay." Taro thought about another question. "Did you and Kira actually meet the fake Kira in Aoyama five years ago?"

Ryuk started to answer, but then stopped himself. "I'm really not sure how much you saw in Aoyama, so I don't think I'll tell you."

That probably meant "yes," but Taro let it go. "You said that whenever someone gives up the Death Note, you take away their memories. Why didn't you take away mine?"

Ryuk scratched his chin. "That's a good question. I guess it was because I wanted you to keep the eraser."

"The eraser?"

"Yes. The Death Note and the eraser are part of a set. Normally, a human would get both of them, and then if you give up one, and keep the other, you can still retain your memories. However, I only gave Kira the notebook, so he has no idea the eraser even exists." Then he muttered to himself. "At least, I don't think he does. He _is_ a pretty smart guy."

That made sense. "I guess what I really meant was why did you want me to keep the eraser in the first place."

"Ah," said Ryuk. "Because I thought that you would want it."

_That I would want it?_

"After all," Ryuk continued, "even now, you're still trying to find Kira, so you can use the eraser and undo all or at least some of those deaths that he caused. If I had taken the eraser away then, you might have lived a life in blissful ignorance. At the time, you didn't know what was coming, so I can understand why you might have wanted to just forget it all.

"But...if you want me to, I'll take the eraser back now and wipe your memory clean. You won't remember anything about the Death Note, and you won't have that lingering guilt that somehow all this is your fault."

That was an extremely tempting offer. To be blissfully ignorant...to not feel like the fate of the world was on his shoulders...that would be great. But...

"I can't," Taro said. "If I had given up my memories back then, it would have been different. If I were to choose ignorance now, I would just be running away from all those people I could save. So thanks, but I'll keep my memories and the eraser."

Ryuk nodded. What made Taro angry was that he knew Ryuk had given him no choice. He was still being manipulated.

The shinigami stretched. "Well, why don't you go ahead and get to bed so I can get out of here, okay?"

"Actually," Taro said, "there was one more thing I wanted to ask you."

"Oh?"

"You said the point of all this isn't that people are dying, right? It's all about the action?"

"What about it?"

"If that's true," Taro said, "then we could say that whether people die or not doesn't really matter. If it's all about the action, then having the people stay dead afterwards doesn't really make a difference, at least not to you.

"But it does matter to me, and you gave me the eraser knowing that I would try to bring those victims back. So, you would probably be fine with victims coming back as long as it didn't interfere with your...fun."

Ryuk considered that. "I guess that's true."

Taro stood up. "In that case, why don't I make a deal with you, Ryuk? I'll stop trying to look for Kira. From what you said, Kira's got a lot on his plate right now, so things should be plenty interesting even with me out of the equation. Of course, the manga's still out there, but other than that, I'll just settle down and try to live my life like a normal person. I've come to terms with the fact that I'm probably not smart enough to catch Kira on my own anyway."

Ryuk thought about it. It was true that things had potential to be a little less interesting without Taro, but so far he really hadn't managed to make any progress in tracking Kira down, and it was unlikely that he would be able to do so in the future.

Taro went on. "And in return, once Kira is eventually defeated, I want you to bring the Death Note pages to me so I can bring all those victims back. It'll be after you've had your fun, so that should be okay with you. As long as the battle continues, you should still have plenty of fun, and then I'll be able to set things right. Kira's human, so he'll have to die eventually, even if he wins against his enemies."

Ryuk smiled. Taro was a lot smarter than he looked. It was a good plan. _I knew I chose him well._

"Alright, but why do you think you can trust me?"

Taro smiled. "This is in both of our best interests."

"Huahahahaha! Okay, it's a deal!" Ryuk spread his wings. "When next we meet, it will be after the death of Kira!" With that Ryuk flew out the window and disappeared.

It would be three years before Ryuk appeared to Taro again.

* * *

**For those of you who have been waiting patiently for this story to overtake the canon timeline and start adding new events, well, Chapter 9 is the one you won't want to miss!**


	9. Resurrection and Redemption

**Well, here it is. The Big One. Chapter 9. Please review :)**

* * *

Strictly speaking, time had treated Taro well. Not only had not chasing Kira been rather relaxing, but it hadn't taken long for Kira to utterly disappear. Within about three months of Ryuk's last departure, the heart attack murders had all but stopped.

_Kira really was in trouble, I guess_, Taro thought.

Sayu had not fared quite so well. Kira had obviously not given up without a fight, and both Mr. Yagami and Light had given their lives to stop him. Both Sayu and Taro knew that it was a possibility, but it was still a shock nonetheless. Taro had spent most of his time with the surviving Yagamis, knowing that they would need all the support that they could get. On February 23, 2011, Taro decided to formalize his relationship with the Yagami family and proposed to Sayu. To his delight, she accepted, and they were married on July 15 of the same year.

Since Kira was no longer around, crime rates gradually began to go up. However, people were still fairly cautious, and crime never became as rampant as it had been before Kira's reign began. The way Taro saw, that was some small good that Kira had done, and once Ryuk returned, everything would be put right.

But it had been over a year since Kira's disappearance, and Ryuk hadn't shown up. Taro began to think that he had broken his promise.

Early in 2013, another string of heart attacks began, this time mostly among the sick and elderly. Rumors that Kira had returned began cropping up everywhere. But Taro didn't believe it. It was certainly clear that this was the work of a Death Note, but this "Kira" performed euthanasia, not capital punishment. The old Kira was long gone.

However, over the summer, the new Kira deaths continued to escalate, until a Kira debate being broadcast on Sakura TV got out of hand when several of the debaters claimed they wanted to die, and the killer obliged them. Yet another mass murder on TV.

The broadcast immediately ended, and the black L symbol once again appeared. L informed everyone who had been watching the broadcast that the person responsible was not Kira, and that L himself did not intend to get involved. He said that he had already deduced Kira's killing methods, and that the Japanese police already knew enough to take care of it themselves. However, before L ended his message, he did have something to say to the new "Kira":

_"You abominable murderer."_ That was it. He didn't say it with any sense of fear or horror, but with the disgust and revulsion that one might have when stepping on a cockroach.

There were no more deaths after that. Whoever the killer was, he had obviously not been as elusive as the real Kira had been.

About a week after L's broadcast, however, Taro was reading in his living room, after Sayu had gone to bed. He heard a noise, turned around and saw the familiar black shinigami. He almost cried out, but remembered that his wife was asleep.

He glared at Ryuk. "Where have you been?" he growled. "You were supposed to come back so I could erase the names!"

"And I was going to," Ryuk assured him. "Unfortunately, all the notebooks Kira used were destroyed."

"What? How?"

Now that the case was over, Ryuk decided to go ahead and tell him the story. "When Kira and L finally met face to face, Kira had arranged a way to write his name down. But L had arranged for Kira to write in a fake notebook so nothing happened. Hahaha! You should have seen the look on Kira's face, it was priceless! Anyway, Kira tried to get away, but the police shot him. After that, L burned both Death Notes right then and there."

"Why didn't you tell L that we could have saved those people?"

"It all happened so fast I didn't have a chance to," Ryuk said. "You know, you really should meet L sometime. He's actually about your age. A guy by the name of Nate River."

"My age?" Taro gasped. "But, then, he would have only been 14 when he first began chasing Kira. And he won?"

"Yep," Ryuk said. "He's a prodigy. I've never seen anybody as smart as him."

"Well, since he stopped Kira, maybe I will go shake his hand someday." Then Taro slumped his shoulders. It had all been for nothing. After all that, Taro couldn't save anyone. What a waste.

Ryuk smiled. "I do have some good news."

Taro looked up.

"The new Kira, the one that killed all those old people? His house is nearby," Ryuk said. "If you want, we can at least go over there and bring those people back."

Taro shook his head. "No, I'm sure the police already confiscated that Death Note when they captured him."

"Huh? No, no, the police didn't catch him," Ryuk explained. "After L's broadcast, the guy just got so scared that he wrote his own name in the Death Note and killed himself. Haha, what a loser!"

Remembering that he had once been too scared to write in the Death Note, a retort rose to Taro's lips, but he bit it back. "So where is his house?"

"I'll take you there right now, if you like," Ryuk offered. "Someone could come over to the house anytime and see the notebook. If you want to do this, it should be as soon as possible."

"Great," said Taro. "Just give me a second." He walked over to his desk, and wrote a note to his wife, just in case she got up and wondered where he was. Then he opened his safe and pulled out the magic eraser. The eraser that he had waited so long to use, but had never been able to.

Until now.

_Soon_, he thought, _I'll be able to set things right._

* * *

It took about 30 minutes to walk to the new Kira's house. Deciding to be helpful for once, Ryuk passed through the front door, and unlocked it from the inside. Taro walked in, and ignoring everything else, immediately walked over to the dead man slumped on his desk. He was in his late thirties, with a formal business suit and thinning hair. But Taro paid no attention to the man; all he cared about was the open black notebook lying in front of him.

Hands trembling, Taro picked up the Death Note. _This is it!_ He glanced at the names written on it. The last one...was Shigeki Kaga. Probably the new Kira. _We'll just leave that one_, Taro thought. _No real sense in bringing a serial killer back to life. Besides, he chose his own fate._

_Wait a minute, _he realized_. Wouldn't I have brought murderers back to life by erasing the names in the first place? I mean, not these people, but many of those that the original Kira punished were murderers, and I was still going to bring them back. More importantly, if I chose who gets to live and die, doesn't that make me no better than Kira?_

Taro shook his head._ No. Like it or not, these people are already dead. I don't have to bring any of them back, so I'm only going to resurrect the victims. That's fair. _Still, he felt a few nagging doubts as he pulled out the eraser and turned the page to the first name.

_Shunji Tsugawa_

Taro erased his name.

Then he breathed a sigh of relief. Somewhere, Shunji Tsugawa was now alive, and could go back to his friends and loved ones. More confident now, Taro proceeded to erase the rest of the victims' names.

When he was done, Ryuk spoke up, "You know, a lot of those people were old, and some of them wanted to be killed. You might have just caused more problems."

Taro shook his head. "It doesn't matter. If they want to live or die...at least now they have a choice."

Ryuk shrugged. It's not like it mattered to him anyway. Then he noticed the smile on Taro's face. "Looks like finally being able to help those people has put you in a good mood." He squirmed. "I...actually wasn't telling the whole truth before. About L burning all the Death Notes. I actually was able to save a few pages."

Taro jumped up. "Why the hell didn't you tell me?"

Ryuk looked defensive. "L didn't know that I was still holding onto these sheets, so they weren't burned. It was just two people! I didn't think it would make a difference!"

"Every human life matters!" Taro said firmly.

Ryuk considered that. "Well, I guess you're right. Here you go." He pulled two loose sheets out of his own notebook. Taro snatched them up. The nerve of that shinigami! Trying to back out of their deal! Taro saw the first name and his jaw dropped.

_Light Yagami_

_This...this is great!_ he thought. He was really lucky that Ryuk had been able to save this page. _Light will be able to come back. Won't Sayu be so happy that she's going to see her brother again? No, I probably shouldn't tell her just yet; I'll just have him surprise her. No, but I probably should give her some warning; she might have a heart attack herself if she sees her dead brother ringing the doorbell._

Taro quickly erased Light's name. He was so excited that he barely even took notice of the other name (L Lawliet) as it, too, disappeared with the eraser's power.

He also didn't notice the chilling, demonic smile that came over Ryuk's face.

* * *

**...**

**...**

**...uh oh...**

**Now what?**

**And so, now this "Alternate Perspective" fic officially becomes a Continuation fic. Chapter 10 will be released next week with a whole new summary and all new cover art. The true battle now begins!**


	10. The Visitor

Though it is called "the human world," Earth is not the sole property of mankind. In fact, at times, most of the world is unconcerned with human affairs. People live, people die, and the world moves on. That is the order of things.

When hundreds of the recently deceased suddenly rose and greeted their loved ones, there was indeed an uproar among all the world's people, even more so than when Kira had first appeared. It sent waves of doubt through even Kira's staunchest critics. After all, any man with a knife could kill, but to bring the dead back to life must truly be the act of a god.

However, even as unprecedented an event as this was, the rest of the physical world carried on as though nothing was out of the ordinary. It should stand to reason that if there was a revived man whom no one was around to greet, the whole of the universe would ultimately take no notice.

And yet, on August 2, 2013, the universe felt the faintest of sinister stirs from a warehouse on Daikoku Wharf called the Yellow Box, as the man once called Light Yagami sat up and opened his eyes.

* * *

Sayu and her mother stared expectantly at Taro.

_Here it goes. The best thing to do is just come right out and say it._ "Light's coming back," he finally said.

Mrs. Yagami gasped.

Sayu looked bewildered. "Taro, what are you talking about? Light's gone. How can he come back?"

Mrs. Yagami turned to Sayu. "Taro?"

Taro stepped in. "That's my real name: Taro Kagami. Sota Nakamura was just an alias that I used while Kira was around." Now that Kira was dead, there was no point in lying to his in-laws.

Mrs. Yagami scowled. "You mean, the man who married my daughter and has been a friend to our family for years isn't who he said he was?" She was angry, and Taro supposed she had a right to be.

"Mom," Sayu said, "it's not like that. Everyone hid their names during that time."

"Then why didn't he say anything when it was all over? What's he trying to hide?"

"He doesn't have anything to hide," Sayu protested, whirling to face Taro. "Do you?"

Taro gulped. This wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation. He'd have to give some explanation of how he knew Light was coming back, and that meant he'd have to tell them the whole truth, which even Sayu didn't know. He'd hoped that Light coming back would make them happy enough that they wouldn't care. Obviously that wasn't the case.

"You must have heard on the news that some people apparently rose from the dead this morning?" Taro asked.

"More Sakura TV trash," Mrs. Yagami insisted.

"No, other stations were talking about it, too," Sayu told her mother. "I can't believe it either, but I don't think it's Sakura TV just making something up."

"Well, Light's one of them," Taro said.

"But _how_ do you _know_?" Mrs. Yagami demanded.

Taro sighed. He reached into his bag and pulled out the Death Note he had taken from the false Kira's house last night. "I'll be able to explain everything now. Please touch this, and don't freak out at what you see."

Looking a little suspicious, Sayu and Mrs. Yagami both touched the innocent looking black notebook, and immediately paled upon seeing Ryuk. "What is that thing?" Mrs. Yagami screamed. Sayu couldn't form any words: Taro could only imagine what was going through her mind.

"This is a shinigami, a god of death," Taro said, the words sounding absurd even to him. "The notebook originally belonged to him before he gave it to Kira, and it's how he kills people. If you write a human's name in it-"

"-that human will die," Sayu finished hoarsely. "You told me that you somehow knew about Kira's power before we were even married. So you really did know? All this time?"

"Yes," said Taro, hanging his head. "I didn't want to tell you because if Kira ever found out I knew, he'd try to kill me."

Sayu nodded that she understood, but she was still giving him a sour look.

Mrs. Yagami had finally regained the ability to speak calmly. "But even if this notebook does have something to do with Kira, that doesn't explain how people can come back to life," she said.

"That's because there's another part of the story," Taro said, "one that even Kira didn't know. You see-"

A loud knock at the door interrupted Taro, and all three humans jumped. _Could it be Light?_

Nervously, Taro walked up to the door and opened it. Sayu and Mrs. Yagami both looked expectantly.

It wasn't Light.

The man standing at the door would have probably been about as tall as Light, but he had a prominent slouch. Both his hair, which was black and stuck out in all directions, and his eyes, which had dark circles under them, gave the impression of someone who had just gotten up from a very long nap.

"Hello," he said, greeting Taro with a rather awkward bow. "Is this the Yagami residence?"

"Yes, it is," said Taro, a little thrown off by the man's appearance. "Who are you?"

"Oh, nobody," the man said. "Just a friend of Light's. May I come in?" And before giving Taro a chance to either answer or ponder what he had said, he boldly stepped over the threshold and into the house. Taro noticed now that he was barefoot.

The man glanced around like he was very familiar with the place. He bowed to Mrs. Yagami, but looked somewhat bewildered upon seeing Sayu. Then, recovering himself, he simply said, "You've grown."

By now Taro was extremely confused. Now only did this man apparently know Light, but he also recognized his family, while their faces plainly said that they had no clue who he was. _Who is this guy?_

Then the man glanced at the coffee table, and his already pale face lost even more color. "What's that doing here?" he whispered, pointing at the Death Note.

So he recognizes it? And he knows Light? Suddenly a thought crossed Taro's mind. "Are you L Lawliet?"

With surprising agility, the man leaped over and placed a long finger on Taro's lips, silencing him. "How do you know that?" he demanded.

By now, the man's rudeness was starting to annoy Taro. "Just answer the question," he snapped.

The man backed down. "I suppose I am. Just…please don't tell Light."

"If you were really a friend of Light's," Mrs. Yagami said, having found her voice, "you would know that he's been dead for several years."

Taro stepped in. "I think I can explain. If this is L Lawliet-"

The man winced. "Please call me Ryuzaki."

"-then he's actually been out of the loop for some time. He was also killed by Kira."

"_Also?_" Ryuzaki said. "How interesting. And yes, I died about…what year is it?"

"2013," Sayu squeaked, still obviously unnerved that this strange man knew her, in addition to everything that was happening.

"Nine years ago," Ryuzaki finished.

"NINE YEARS?" Mrs Yagami exclaimed. "But how?"

"All I know, is that in the middle of the night I woke up, and realized I was at the Task Force HQ, only it looked like it had been abandoned for years," Ryuzaki explained. "I still remember feeling that pain in my chest, but the pain was gone. I'm sure that I had a heart attack, so I really don't know how I could be alive. Then I got up, and came here."

Taro breathed a sigh of relief. Ryuk had told him that anyone who was brought back to life _should_ appear near the place where they died, regardless of how long it had been and what state the body was in. Although Ryuk had also admitted that he didn't know for sure. Taro had had all kinds of nightmares about Light coming to life inside his coffin, six feet underground, unable to breathe (needless to say, he hadn't gotten much sleep last night). After hearing Ryuzaki's story, though, he felt much more confident that Light's resurrection had been successful, and that he would be here soon.

"I take it that this has something to do with my suddenly being alive." Ryuzaki pointed at the Death Note.

"Yes," Taro answered. So obviously Ryuzaki knew a little about how the Death Note worked. He pulled out the eraser. "If you kill someone with the Death Note, and then erase his or her name using this special eraser, they come back to life."

Ryuzaki raised his eyebrow, obviously intrigued by this new information. "May I see it?" Taro nodded. Ryuzaki touched the notebook, then he looked up and saw Ryuk.

"A shinigami…" His eyes narrowed. "You're not the one I met."

Ryuk laughed. "You mean Rem? Nah, she's dead. My name is Ryuk; I'm the one who gave Kira the notebook in the first place."

"I see," Ryuzaki said. Then, without a second's hesitation, he tossed the notebook into the fire. Everyone gasped.

"What did you do that for?" Taro shouted.

Ryuzaki glared at him, and something in his gaze gave Taro the shivers. "That notebook is possibly the most dangerous thing on the planet. I did the only thing a sane person would do and destroyed it." He stopped, as if waiting for something to happen. "I see, so that was a fake rule too."

"What was?" Taro asked.

"When we first found the notebook over the course of our investigation, there were two rules written in the back. One was that if the notebook was destroyed, everyone who had previously touched it would die. And the other was that if you wrote a name, you had to keep writing names every thirteen days, or else you would die."

Taro nodded. Those were certainly not any rules he was familiar with. Ryuk must have just made them up.

Then pieces started falling into place. Ryuzaki knew about the Death Note. He was part of the investigation team. And his name…

"Y-you're L," Taro blurted out. The instant the words came out, he was positive that he was right.

Ryuzaki nodded.

"But that's impossible. L was still alive. And Ryuk said his name was Nate River."

"Nate River?" L said. "Oh, that must be Near. So he was the one who succeeded me?"

Taro's mind started racing. _He lied. Ryuk lied._ How had he not seen it coming? But to what end?

L looked at Taro. "The only thing I don't know…is who are you?"

Taro took a deep breath. "My name is Taro Kagami. I owned the Death Note about a year before Kira did. After about four days, I brought back all the people I had killed, and told Ryuk to take the notebook away. Instead, he let me keep the eraser, and brought the notebook to Kira. I tried to find Kira so I could erase the names and undo all the damage he caused, but I wasn't able to, and now all the pages Kira used are burned." _At least, that's what Ryuk said. That could also be a lie._

Sayu and Mrs. Yagami looked at Taro like they had never seen him before. They had never imagined that their close friend had been so intimately involved in the Kira incident from the very beginning. Even Sayu, who had just discovered his secret, was shocked at the revelation of just how large that secret actually was.

But meanwhile, L's mind was even more frantic. This new information changed everything. And the conclusion…gave him a chill.

"Shinigami, it seems that you find all of this 'Kira' business rather amusing. Watching humans scramble around, killing each other, and creating chaos must be entertaining for a supernatural being such as yourself."

"Yep," Ryuk said without embarrassment.

"Then I can only speculate that it wasn't exactly from the 'goodness of your heart' that I'm now back in the land of the living. You had some ulterior motive."

Taro stepped in. "I told him to bring me the pages from Kira's death note after he was defeated. But like I said, yours was one of the only ones that wasn't burned."

"I find it difficult to believe that I was simply that lucky," L insisted. "I can only imagine that he had some other goal in mind when he brought you the page with my name on it. And the other page as well."

Ryuk laughed loudly. He must have figured out whatever point L was getting at. "You haven't changed a bit, haha!"

"Perhaps not." L glanced at Taro. "The other name…it was Light Yagami's, wasn't it?" He didn't seem like he found the idea of Light rejoining the living to be as cheerful a prospect as the rest of them.

"Yes," Taro answered.

L's face fell. "Of course." He glared at Ryuk. "You must have been extremely bored all those years after I was gone. If Light has been dead for three years, you must have spent all of that time hoping you or another shinigami would find another human to keep you all entertained."

Ryuk nodded. "Unfortunately, the one Midra chose was just too weak."

"And so then," L continued, "having realized that a weak human would be of no use to you, you decided you would have to simply resurrect the two geniuses and begin anew. You simply had to have Light and I, didn't you?"

"I don't understand," Mrs. Yagami interrupted. "What does Light have to do with this?"

At the question, L's whole demeanor changed, and he looked ashamed. "After seeing how badly this affected your husband, I would prefer not to tell you. There's no easy way to say this. But I afraid that...your son Light is actually Kira."


	11. Light's Revenge

Light walked into the alley, carrying a box of granola bars and an apple. It was true that he had stolen them, and he regretted being forced to steal like a common criminal, but at the moment, he had no choice. The bars would sustain him for awhile, and the apple...well, hopefully, it would attract a shinigami. One who could explain what was happening.

_Why am I alive?_

Some of the people who he had passed in the streets had talked about how several people who had recently been killed by Kira (no doubt a shinigami having some fun, Light thought) had come back to life. His resurrection no doubt had something to do with that. Obviously, there was something about the Death note that Ryuk had failed to tell him. Something crucial.

_And until I find out, I need to make sure I remember._

And so, in between bites of his granola bars, he muttered a string of names under his breath.

* * *

To say that Taro and the Yagamis were shocked at L's claim would have been an understatement.

"Th-there's no way Light could be Kira!" Mrs. Yagami shouted. "How dare you come into our home and make these kinds of accusations!"

"Ma'am, I wish they weren't true, but I'm afraid they are," L said, keeping his voice calm. "Before I died, Light made it very clear that he _was_ Kira, and that he had beaten me."

"Light would never do that," Mrs. Yagami wailed. "He tried to catch Kira!"

"If I'm not mistaken," L said, "he spent some time afterwards posing as me, and engineering the appearance of a cat-and-mouse game from both sides. He's incredibly tricky. I don't blame you for being fooled by him."

Taro thought to himself. He desperately wanted to believe that Light wasn't Kira. Not only because Light was his brother-in-law, but because if he was indeed able to be Kira right under the nose of both the investigation and his family, he was far more intelligent and cunning than Taro could have imagined.

But the more he thought about it, the more sure he was that L was telling the truth. Ryuk had already lied about Nate River being L. And if Ryuk had indeed planned to bring Taro those two particular names right from the start, it only made sense for one to be Kira and one to be L, since Ryuk just wanted to be entertained by the conflict. And this Ryuzaki couldn't be Kira, because Kira wouldn't have burned a Death Note so easily.

_I did it again_, he realized. _First I indirectly gave Kira the means to gain power. Now I'm directly responsible for his return. _Ryuk had had him on the ropes the whole time, and now, everything was much worse.

Taro sniffed back a tear. He didn't want to give away how close he was to despair. But Ryuk noticed and grinned.

_I won't let you win this time, shinigami_, Taro swore. _I WILL make things right._

Meanwhile, Mrs. Yagami yelled at L to get out of her house.

"Not until I've had my say," L insisted, his face darkening. "Because I don't think you realize how much I myself wished Light wasn't Kira.

"I grew up in an orphanage, and have no family I can remember. Once he realized my skills, Watari groomed me to be the world's greatest detective. And from that day forward, all the other kids in the orphanage strove to be even better than I was. A, B, N, M, J,...they were all my rivals. They may have have looked up to me as a mentor, but none of them considered me to be their friend. Nor did I consider any of them to be my friend.

"When I first met Light Yagami, he thought I was strange, but he claimed to have respect for me, and I myself had fun working with him. I said that Light was my friend, and I meant that. Not only that, but he was the first and only friend I ever had. Even though I only knew him because he was a suspect in the case, I had hoped desperately that wasn't Kira, so we would be able to remain friends after Kira was caught. Maybe we could even play tennis again. But the moment my heart stopped beating and I saw him smiling over me, I knew that every friendly gesture he had ever made towards me had all been a lie. He betrayed my trust, perhaps even more than he betrayed yours.

"Now I know you still won't believe me, but I think it will become clear once criminals begin dying again. If Light comes here, I don't expect you to go against your own son, but please don't tell him I was here. Meanwhile, I will go and try to find him. I bid you good day."

And with that, L turned and walked out without another word.

_He's like me_, Taro realized. _He thinks that because he failed, Kira was able reign for five more years, and that's his fault._

Taro quickly pocketed the eraser, then ran after L. And before Mrs. Yagami could stop her, Sayu joined him.

L looked at the two of them. "Are you sure you want to join me? Are you prepared to risk your lives for this?"

Taro nodded. Sayu looked uncertain. "I still don't know what to think, but I have to know the truth."

"I understand," L said. He continued walking. "In that case, follow me. We'll get started immediately."

"Where are we going?" asked Taro.

"To meet the rest of our team."

* * *

NPA Director Shuichi Aizawa was having a lousy morning.

First there was that whole mess with the guy Near had dubbed C-Kira. No one had seen hide or hair of him since that disastrous broadcast last week, and there had been no more deaths, so Aizawa was beginning to think that he might be done, although he still had Mogi out doing a little checking, just to be sure.

Now, though, he had the opposite problem. All the people that had reported dead from C-Kira were now apparently alive. If it was only a few victims, he could have written off as the doctors pronouncing death by mistake. But not all of them. And no matter how long he thought about, he kept coming to the same conclusion: there had to be something about the Death Note that they didn't know. Near had already arranged a meeting, and this time he was coming in person. That meant it was really serious.

And speaking of Near, the phone started to ring. That was probably him.

"Hello?" Aizawa said.

_"This is L."_

"Near, we may have to wait a little while to start the meeting. Mogi's out on patrol, and Sanami left to get me some aspirin. I hope you at least have some idea of where to start." _I wonder why he's not using the voice filter_, Aizawa thought.

_"Mr. Aizawa, this is not Near. This is L."_

"What are you talking ab-" Wait, it couldn't be. _I know that voice._ "R-Ryuzaki?"

_"Yes. Now, if you could instruct your receptionist to let me in to the building once I get here, I'd appreciate it. I would rather not explain to her who I am."_

"O-Of course, L," Aizawa stammered, still trying to keep his head from spinning. "It's just, we're up to our ears in something really weird at the moment-"

_"I just might be able to help you out with that."_

"Oh, right." _Of course. If he's alive, that means he was resurrected, too._ "Just tell her you're Ryuzaki, and you're here to see the director."

_"Thank you,"_ Ryuzaki said. Then he hung up.

Still in a daze, Aizawa called the front desk. "If a man named Ryuzaki comes looking for me, please direct him to my office."

* * *

Taro, Sayu, and Ryuzaki arrived at the police station about five minutes later, and were shown to the director's office.

Three men were waiting for them. The oldest, presumably the director, spoke. "It's good to see you again, Ryuzaki." The second man greeted him likewise, while the third man was strangely quiet. Then, upon seeing Taro, the oldest man said. "I'm Shuichi Aizawa, director of the NPA, and this is Hideki Ide and Tatsuya Yamamoto." To Yamamoto, Aizawa said, "This is L," and gestured at Ryuzaki. The young man almost dropped his jaw in amazement.

"I believe you all know Chief Yagami's daughter," Ryuzaki said, "and this is her husband, Sota Nakamura." Ryuzaki had decided to accept Taro's request to address him by his alias. It was, after all, a sentiment he identified with. "They'll be joining us as we conduct this investigation. Sota, if you would?"

Taro nodded, and took out the eraser. "Please touch this, everyone." The three men touched it, and then jumped at the sight of Ryuk.

"What is that eraser? And what's he doing here?" Aizawa demanded.

_They know Ryuk?_ "This eraser can be used to bring back those whose names have been written in the Death Note. Kira never knew about this eraser because..." _Well, might as spit it out._ "...because it's been in my possession for the last ten years."

"What?" Aizawa yelled. "You mean, you knew about the Death Note the entire time and never came forward with the information?"

_He's a cop. It's understandable for him to have that reaction_, Taro thought. To Aizawa, he replied, "I was a kid. I was scared. I wanted to be sure Kira never found out about it. And from what hear, Kira was actually secretly on this task force for years. If I had come forward, I would have surely been caught and killed."

Aizawa was silent, so Taro continued. "I figured that if I ever managed to find Kira, I might be able to bring back the people that he killed."

The director turned to Ryuzaki. "So the eraser is what brought back C-Kira's victims?"

"Correct."

Aizawa shook his head. "Well, I admire your nobility, Sota, but the truth of the matter is that bringing people back from the dead is doing more harm than good at the moment. Everyone is in a panic. Even people who are convinced Kira didn't somehow use supernatural means to kill are at a loss to explain this. If it were to save people from death, it would be one thing, but this..."

Taro hung his head. It was one thing for Ryuk to tell him raising the dead was a bad idea (he didn't really care what Ryuk thought), but now that Aizawa said it, Taro knew he was absolutely right. Bringing back Kira's victims had been a dream, but only now did he realize how childish a dream it really was. He had never even thought of the consequences of bringing the dead back to life. His own victims during childhood and returned to life in a few days: he was extraordinarily lucky that none of these recent victims had literally sprung from their graves, considering some of them had been dead for months now. He shuddered to think of what would have happened if he had accomplished his original goal of bringing back Kira's many thousands of victims. Between this mess and actually bringing back Kira himself, he had really screwed up big time.

Ryuzaki's voice interrupted Taro's thoughts. "I'm afraid we have even bigger problems. Apparently, the shinigami has manipulated things from the very beginning, and has used the eraser to bring back both me and Kira. Apparently, he was...entertained by our struggle." Taro was relieved that Ryuzaki left out the part where Taro had been manipulated into bringing back Kira.

The NPA members froze. "You mean...Light...is alive?" Ide asked.

Sayu buried her face in her hands. This seemed to be the proof she was looking for, but she had obviously been desperately hoping that Ryuzaki was somehow wrong. But now that the other officers had confirmed it, the chances of that were becoming slim. She fell into Taro's arms, sobbing. This wasn't going to be easy.

The NPA members averted their eyes, obviously a little embarrassed about blurting that out. Ryuzaki kept his composure. "Yes, I'm afraid Kira is indeed back."

"Is that so?"

Everyone looked in the direction of the door. Three more people were standing there, having apparently entered the room making hardly any sound. One was a large, muscular man and the other was a tall woman. The man who had spoken was in the middle of the group, making the other two seemed like bodyguards. He had a head of thick white hair, but he didn't look any older than 25. Taro noticed he had the same look of determination that Ryuzaki had. _This has to be Near, the man who succeeded L._

"Is Light Yagami alive?" Near asked. His voice sounded very cold.

"I'm afraid so," Ryuzaki replied. "You must be Near."

"That's correct," Near said. "If Kira has been brought back to life, I can only assume that you're the original L, and that you've been brought back, too."

_It's like they're two of a kind_, Taro thought.

"Yes, now, we need to discuss our strategy," Ryuzaki began, "First, we'll-"

"I'll be giving the orders around here, L," Near interrupted.

Everyone in the room did a double-take. Even Ryuzaki.

"After all," Near explained, "_I_ was the one who defeated Kira, not you. I have surpassed you. Therefore, I should be leading this investigation."

"At the Yellow Box, you claimed that you couldn't have defeated Kira without Mello!" Aizawa snapped. "The two of you surpassed L together!"

"Mello, too?" Ryuzaki pondered, lost in thought. "Good for him. In any case, Near, since Kira is alive, I think the claim 'I beat Kira' has become a rather weak excuse."

Near stared blankly for a moment, then growled. "But I defeated him nonetheless. Why would the shinigami bring you back when Kira could have simply fought against me?"

Ryuk (whom Taro was pretty sure Near couldn't see yet) chuckled. "It was more fun when Kira and L were competing face to face." Taro explained that Ryuk was present and repeated his statement for Near.

"But that's not fair," Near snarled. "You lost to Kira, who lost to me! I-"

"Near," Ryuzaki interrupted impatiently. "This may be a game for the shinigami, but we must stop thinking of it as such. That was your biggest flaw; you don't work well with others. It's a flaw I have as well, but I learned to overcome it. Now, I am willing to work with you if that's what you want, but you can't give me orders. You were meant to succeed me, but since I'm still alive, I don't need succeeding just yet."

Near shrugged, but the look on his face was still one of anger. "Well, it should be fine. We know who Kira is, and without a Death Note, he is powerless. This will be-" Near froze, and pointed at one of his companions in horror.

The large man had clutched his chest in pain. Then he fell over.

Soon the woman joined him, and then Mr. Aizawa also began having chest pains.

Near's eyes bulged as he realized what was happening. "It's Kira!"

* * *

As soon as the apple began to move, Light knew he had won. He reached out and touched an invisible notebook, which instantly came into view, along with it's shinigami owner.

This shinigami looked very different from Ryuk. His body resembled a golden skeleton, which was adorned and embedded with jewels. Even his eyes seemed to be made of jewels. He stared at Light with curiosity.

"You were waiting here for me?" it finally asked in a deep masculine voice.

"That's right," Light said. "I knew that whoever brought me back to life did it so that I could fulfill some purpose as Kira. And for that, I would need a Death Note. Now, if you'll just give me yours..."

Light reached for the notebook, but his hand passed through it: the shinigami was still holding on to it.

"What makes you think I was going to give you my Death Note?" the death god demanded.

Light smiled. "If you hadn't planned to give me the notebook, you wouldn't have even come here, much less revealed yourself. I'm guessing you shinigami saw all the fun Ryuk had following me, and decided you would get in on it.

The shinigami paused, then relented, letting his notebook fall to the ground. "Ryuk was right. You really are one of a kind."

"I know," Light said. There were a lot of questions he needed to ask the shinigami, but first things first. He opened the Death Note, and copied down the names that he had burned into his memory. The ones that he had been repeating ever since he awoke.

_Nate River_

_Anthony Carter_

_Stephen Loud_

_Halle Bullock_

_Shuichi Aizawa_

_Touta Matsuda_

_Kanzo Mogi_

_Hideki Ide_

Upon thinking about it, Light immediately wrote down a few extra conditions next to Nate River's name._ Death alone is too good for him, _he thought._ That smug bastard gets something special._


	12. Dead or Alive

**Okay, before I uploaded this chapter, I went back and changed a few small things in the last chapter, based on some of the advice I received in the reviews. I encourage all of you to review, and PLEASE tell me if something doesn't seem to be working in the story. I can't guarantee I'll change it or whatnot, but I can't know what you guys are enjoying (or not enjoying) if you don't tell me.**

**And secondly, I want to thank everyone who's reviewed this story so far, particularly X59. I don't thank you guys often enough, and considering I haven't really integrated into this fandom the way I have South Park, I appreciate the support.**

**And now, Chapter 12...**

* * *

Taro watched in horror as the NPA members and Near's people began to keel over. Sayu screamed. Soon, the only people standing were Taro, Sayu, Ryuzaki, Near, and Yamamoto.

Just then, a light lit up on the console of Aizawa's desk.

"That'll be Mr. Mogi," Near said, shaking. "He must have activated his emergency signal. Which means that he's no doubt suffering a heart attack too."

Sayu wailed. "How could this happen?"

"When we cornered Light, all of our names were revealed," Near explained. "As he was caught, and in no position to write anyone's name, we were safe. But if he is back, and has somehow acquired a Death Note, the first names he would write in them would be our own. That is, myself, and all the members of the Kira task force and the SPK."

"Th-then how come you're not dead?" Yamamoto asked, still in shock that the corpses of all his colleagues were on the floor.

"I don't know," Near said. "There's no doubt Light hates me the most of all. My name would have been first. I suspect...he wanted me to see this." He gestured at the bodies. "He wanted me to know that he was back. That he had finally beaten me. And that I had failed everyone."

At that moment, Near's eyes lit up, and he became stiff. Then, without another word, he fell over and died.

Now, Ryuzaki was shaking. But it wasn't with fear. It was with anger. Apparently, despite whatever he had said about the kids at the orphanage always being in competition with him, he still felt protective of them, and was obviously outraged that his successor had been killed.

Then Taro heard a knock on the door. "Excuse me, Aizawa? I brought your aspirin."

Sayu opened the door, and a police officer walked in, although he was a bit younger than the others, except Yamamoto. "Sayu? What are you-"

Then he saw Aizawa's body on the floor and yelled. "Ahh! He's dead!" Then he saw the other bodies. "Ide? Rester? Near? Why are they all dead?" Then he looked at Ryuzaki and screamed even louder. "Why are you alive?"

"MATSUDA!" Ryuzaki snapped. The name rolled off his tongue, like he was used to saying it in that tone of voice. The man, who apparently was called Matsuda, immediately shut up.

Ryuzaki put his hand on Matsuda's shoulder. "Well, at least Mr. Matsuda is still with us."

"But how, though?" Yamamoto asked. "If Light wrote down the names of everyone who was at the Yellow Box, Matsuda should be dead too."

"Light always seemed to like Matsuda," Sayu said weakly.

"But Matsuda was the one who shot him," Yamamoto pointed out, then immediately covered his mouth again, having slipped out another detail of Light's death. This time, however, Sayu didn't seem quite as bothered by it. She looked more numb than anything.

Matsuda was holding his head in his hands, obviously only hearing parts of the conversation. "Light? What about him? Is he one of the ones who came back to life? Ugh, why does this always happen?"

Ryuzaki stared at Matsuda, then tilted his head. "Matsuda, have you gotten married since I've been gone?"

Matsuda looked up. "Oh, you noticed?" he said, holding out his hand, where Taro could see a wedding ring. "Yeah, once the Kira investigation was over, I finally managed to settle down, and I met this really nice girl, Erika Sanami. It's been a tradition in her family that when a daughter gets married, the couple takes her name. So I thought, 'Well, it's a weird tradition, but why not?'"

Ryuzaki nodded knowingly. "I see. Then may I offer my somewhat belated congratulations. And that 'weird tradition' just saved your life."

"Huh?"

"Oh yeah!" Yamamoto realized. "Light must have written down, _Touta Matsuda_. But his legal name is now _Touta Sanami._"

"So marriage changes your real name?" Taro asked. "I mean, the name Ryuk sees?"

"It would seem so," Ryuzaki said. Then he turned to Sayu and frowned. "That has probably saved your life as well," he added.

"My life?" Sayu pondered. "Because I married Ta-I mean, Sota? But why do you say that?"

Ryuzaki hung his head. "Even though Light has punished (or tried to punish) those who caught him, he cannot be sure that his identity as Kira is not still known to some. I suspect that his next move was to permanently cut ties with everyone who knew him as Light Yagami. That probably means...he'll try to kill his family."

"No," Sayu insisted. "No. Light wouldn't do that. He may have become...lost...in pursuit of a misguided ideal, but he must have had noble intentions to start with. And he wouldn't go so far as to kill me or Mom." Seeing the faces of the other people in the room, she asked, "Would he?"

"The Kira I know wouldn't have batted an eye," Ryuzaki said, probably a little more bluntly than he needed to. "I didn't mention the possibility to you or Mrs. Yagami before because there would have been nothing you could have done. I'm sorry."

Unable to speak, Sayu pulled out her cell phone and dialed desperately. She put the phone to her ear, hoping to hear anything that would let her know her mother was alright.

Silence was all she received. And Taro knew that Mrs. Yagami always kept her cell phone close. If she wasn't answering...

At that, Sayu completely broke down. That, Taro realized, had probably dashed the last hope she had had that her brother wasn't completely evil. Even upon hearing that Light was Kira, she had still wanted to believe that there was good in him, as many people believed that Kira was good. But upon realizing that he had tried to kill his only remaining family, it seemed that she could no longer hide from the truth: her brother was a monster.

"He seemed so normal," she finally cried, not quite with despair this time, but with anger. "He helped me with my homework...he made great grades...he even dated a pop idol-"

-Ryuzaki opened his mouth like he was about to say something, then thought better of it and remained quiet-

"...what happened? How did he become so bad?" Sayu asked desperately.

Taro knelt down and held her. "We may never know. But that notebook...its power can do terrible things to a person."

Ryuzaki nodded in agreement. "Light's father once said the very same thing."

"So, now what?" Matsuda asked.

"Well, we find ourselves in a unique position," Ryuzaki said. "We now know who our opponent is, and he thinks that all of us are either dead or no threat to him. If we move carefully, he may not even realize we're after him."

* * *

_Nate River, heart attack. He learns that his team members are dead, and realizes that he has failed to stop Kira. Then he dies._

Then,

_Sachiko Yagami_

_Sayu Yagami_

_Sota Nakamura_

_There_, Light thought, _that should be everyone_. He was a little concerned about having to kill his own family, but he banished his doubts. He had been prepared to do that since the beginning. And it would be far simpler to continue as Kira under a new disguise, without any ties to his former life. Light Yagami was gone. Only Kira remained.

"Now," he said, looking at the shinigami. "I have some questions for you."

The death god shrugged. "Whatever," it finally said, leaning up against the wall of the alley. He looked even lazier than Ryuk.

"First, since you'll be following me around for awhile, tell me your name."

"Armonia Justin."

Light looked intensely into the shinigami's jeweled eyes, "Now then, Armonia Justin, why am I alive? Ryuk killed me with his Death Note, but I'm here, and I'm not dead."

Armonia Justin held up a small, ordinary looking eraser. "I suspect he used this. This special eraser is how shinigami can have true mastery of death. If I use this to erase a name I previously wrote in the notebook, that person will come back to life."

_An eraser? Seriously?_ "Why have I never heard of this? I've met three shinigami, not including you, and none of them ever mentioned this eraser before."

"They must not have been highly ranked," Justin suggested.

"Ranked?"

"Yes. Death gods all have a rank, based on their intelligence, power, skill, and other factors. If a shinigami is not careful, he can accidentally kill himself by erasing a name and thus shortening his own lifespan. So only the top seven ranked shinigami are given erasers, to ensure the safety of the others."

"Ah," Light said. "So not all shinigami have erasers, then?"

"No. Ryuk is ranked sixth, so he owned an eraser, but kept it a secret from you, to serve his own plan and amusement. Shidoh is ranked eighth, so he wouldn't have been able to tell you anything about it."

"And Rem? She probably would have been ranked rather high, and she didn't have some kind of agenda. How come she never gave Misa an eraser?"

Justin shook his head. "The Death Note she gave to Misa belonged to Jealous, who was one of the lowest ranked of us. Since he didn't have an eraser, it did not pass to Misa. And Rem's own eraser remained in her possession."

Light considered that. "So what you're saying is that Ryuk used the eraser to bring me back to life? Even though he was the one who killed me in the first place?" Something about this didn't make sense.

"It's possible that Ryuk came to the conclusion that you were the only one who could entertain him the way you did," Justin said. "A few of us tried giving the Death Note to other humans that same way he did with you, but no one was any good. Most of them eventually wrote their own names down."

"And so Ryuk realized that I was the only way he could stay entertained," Light finished. "I guess he finally figured out that he killed me a little too hastily." Then he frowned. "I heard some people on the streets talking about people coming back to life. I suppose that's because of the eraser, too?"

"Yes," Justin said. "The latest human a shinigami tried to replace you with killed several sick and elderly people as a form of euthanasia. When he realized the police were onto him he committed suicide. Now, all of his victims have returned to life, and the eraser is no doubt responsible."

Light laughed. "In that case, I can use that to my advantage."

"Is that so?" Justin asked. _He's just as hopeless as Ryuk_, Light thought.

"Ryuk thought I could entertain him again. I'll show him just how right he is. It's time to let the world know that Kira is back."

Justin remained stoic. _Okay, Ryuk_, he thought, _time to see just how good your former human is._


	13. A Message to the People

**Sorry it's been two weeks since my last update. I've really fallen into a slump with this story. It's not that I don't know where it's going (because I do), but lately I've just barely felt motivated to write for it. Fortunately, I have a few chapters in reserve, just for situations like this.**

**I've got other stories that I really want to get to, but one of my personal rules is not to try and carry two multi-chapters at once, which means _It Began With a Question_ has to wait until this one is done. **

**I just urge all of you to stick with me. I've never had to abandon a published story before, and I'm not about to start now. Please review, even if you don't like what you're reading. If nothing else, it'll get me motivated to get this story written faster so I can move on to better things.**

**And here we go...**

* * *

_Hideo Kaneko, Heart Attack._

_Finds a letter in his mailbox, and carries out the instructions written in it._

_After doing this, he dies painlessly._

Light checked over all the details. It was almost scary how simple this all was. He wondered why he had never tried this before. It would certainly be more effective than relying on Demegawa or even Takada to relay his message to the world.

His messenger appointed, Light sat down and began writing on an ordinary sheet of paper.

* * *

"Ryuzaki, this is really bad." Matsuda said, bursting in to the room, and turning on the TV.

Yamamoto stifled a chuckle. "Is this really what you were like back in those days? Haha, wow."

Ryuzaki paid no attention to Yamamoto's jibe, but focused on the screen. There was a man on the screen, holding a gun, having apparently taken over the Sakura TV studio by force and demanded to speak. But despite this boldness, he was trembling. There was a piece of paper in his shaking hands. That paper gave Ryuzaki a bad feeling.

"_I have a message from Kira,_" the man finally said.

Taro gulped. _Uh oh._

The man on the TV cleared his throat, and began:

"_I am Kira. I want it officially known that I have returned. To those who doubt that this message is legitimate, I will now inform you that the man delivering this message..._"

The man began to shake uncontrollably.

"_...will d-die of a h-heart attack w-when he is finished sp-speaking._"

Taro jumped up. "How could he do that? Doesn't he realize the panic that will cause?"

Ryuzaki shook his head. "Most likely he has thought of that. Either that, or he doesn't care."

Kira's messenger continued. "_This man's death will be painless as a reward for his cooperation. But he is a criminal, and criminals cannot be allowed to live in my world._

_"To the police, in case you have any thoughts of stopping this man from speaking, I remind you that my quarrel is not with you. I judge those who the law cannot reach, and I want to work with the police as much as possible. But if you try to interfere, you will be my enemy, and the enemy of the people, for standing in the way of a truly crime-free world."_

"What are we going to do, Ryuzaki?" Yamamoto said.

Ryuzaki clenched his fists. "For the moment, nothing."

"NOTHING?"

"That's right," Ryuzaki said. "He's made it very clear that anyone who interferes is an enemy of the people."

"But that's not true!" Taro yelled. "Kira can't speak for the people!"

"But there are those who would let him," Ryuzaki reminded him. "If we try to stop this broadcast, the people will probably side against us."

"But they'll _definitely_ side against us if Kira keeps talking!" Taro insisted.

"I never said we would let him do all the talking," Ryuzaki said. Then he spoke into his computer, which was sitting on the table beside him. "Patch me through to Roger."

"Roger?" Taro asked.

"My assistant," Ryuzaki explained. "He's in Japan at the moment, and we just might be able to enlist his help."

Kira went on. "_I also wish to make it clear that the murders which were carried out in my name other the past few months were not committed by me. They were the work of another impostor, who has managed to gain my power. I have given those people back their lives._"

"WHAT?" Taro exclaimed. _Could he really convince people that he could bring back the dead, as well as kill? _After the resurrections, how could they not believe him?

"Calm down, Taro," Ryuzaki said, sipping a cup of coffee.

"But he's lying!"

Ryuzaki rolled his eyes, as if to say, "Duh."

"And at this rate," Taro continued, "he really _will_ convince people that he's a god!"

"_Contrary to the many rumors I have heard, I was never dead or gone. I have kept silent for the past three years, in the hopes that evildoers would choose not to commit crimes on their own. But the world has obviously not learned its lesson, and so I will remain here, for as long as it takes, to insure that our perfect world comes to fruition._"

Our _perfect world_, Taro thought with disdain, the choice of words not lost on him.

"_But I bring great news to you people_," Kira proclaimed. "_The traitor, L, is finally dead. For too long, he has poisoned our world with his subversive propaganda. He would rather let crime continue than allow our world to be cleansed. But now he can no longer harm you. Even he could not hide from me forever._"

Ryuzaki tapped his fingers impatiently, not liking where this conversation was going. Finally, his computer chirped. "_Yes, L?_" the voice on the other end asked.

"I need you to link me up to the Sakura TV broadcast on my signal."

"_Very well. Stand by._"

"But Ryuzaki," Matsuda asked, "are you really going to speak as L? I thought we were going to hunt Kira in secret."

"That may not be possible now," Ryuzaki said. "Defeating Kira will do no good if the people still believe in him, and it will be even harder to oppose Kira after this. I must speak. If L remains dead, then Kira wins, but..."

Taro smiled, suddenly realizing what Ryuzaki was saying. "But L is alive, then their 'god' is a liar."

* * *

Light watched from the safety of his hotel room as the broadcast unfolded. So far, everything seemed to be going exactly as planned, as Kaneko made his closing statement.

"_I ask you, the people, to stand with me. I'm doing this for you, making a better world for you to live in. Together, we can give our children a brighter future, free from crime and wickedness._"

With that, Kaneko closed his eyes, and fell to the ground. Just as promised, his death had been painless.

Smiling, Light picked up the remote to turn the television off. Suddenly, however, the image changed. Instead of the Sakura TV studio, another view greeted him. Just as familiar, but far more threatening.

The white background, and the calligraphic L.

_No. Impossible!_

"_It brings me great sorrow that I must acknowledge that Kira has indeed returned,_" L's voice said. "_But I promise you, that he will not be here for much longer._"

_Near, you bastard._ He stared at the page in the Death Note containing Nate River's name. _How are you still alive?_

"_It seems that Kira has decided to make some rather personal attacks on my character. I want to first counter with an attack of my own. Perhaps some of you remember, during my first message to you, that I denounced Kira as 'evil?'_"

_Wait, that's not Near_, Light realized. The truth hit him like a thunderbolt. _So,_ that's_ your game is it, Ryuk?_

"_I still maintain that to be the truth, although I know some of you have a different opinion of the matter. So instead of offering you a philosophical statement, let me give you something a little more concrete. Kira, whom you just heard pronounce me dead not 5 minutes ago, has lied to you. L is still alive._"

L, ever the master of drama, paused._ Damn you, Ryuzaki_, Light fumed._ I should have known you would be resurrected too. Ryuk did want to have his fun, after all. You got me this time, but the people trust me more than they trust you._

"_I do not wish to let criminals go unchecked,_" L insisted. "_I believe in justice. But Kira does not represent justice. One person deciding what is right and wrong, without a leash, is not justice. Kira alone does not have the right to decide what justice is, and we must not let him continue to run our lives._

"_And Kira...I look forward to facing you again. I have failed to stop you for a long time, but your reign is about to end._" The transmission cut off.

Light clenched his fist. Ryuzaki being back would be a problem. But there was something else going on here...

"Justin," he said, turning to the shinigami, "could you erase names from any notebook you wanted?"

"What do you mean?" Justin asked.

"If Ryuk wrote a human's name in his Death Note, would you be able to erase it?"

"No," Justin said. "It's forbidden. A shinigami cannot write a name, or erase one, in any notebook but their own. If we could do that, we could easily kill another shinigami simply by erasing all the names in their notebook."

"Right," Light smiled. "Now Ryuk wrote my name, so he might have erased that himself. But if what you told me is true..._how could Ryuk have erased Ryuzaki's name from Rem's notebook?_"

Justin paused. It shouldn't be possible. Unless...

Light finished. "Humans are not bound by the same rules the shinigami are. There's another player in this game. A human who has one of the death erasers, probably Ryuk's. In fact, since Ryuk never told me about the eraser, this human may have had it the whole time, and used it to bring both me and Ryuzaki back, as well as all of those fake Kira victims. I underestimated Ryuk. He really thought this whole thing through."

_This won't be easy_, Light thought. _I still don't know Ryuzaki's real name, and now there's also the owner of the eraser. If they're working together, there's a chance Ryuzaki has the notebook, which means he'll be able to kill me. I have to find them both as soon as possible._

_One thing's for sure. I won't make the same mistake I made last time._

He walked over to his computer and began typing a message.

"What are you doing?" Justin asked lazily.

"In the end, I lost because Ryuzaki's successors learned about his death, and caught me off guard," Light said. "But now, I know all about that little orphanage in England where he grew up, and about the kids who live there. There won't be any successors this time. Ryuzaki will be the last L."


	14. On the Defensive

**This is probably not worth the month you guys have been waiting, but at this point, I'm just trying to finish this thing. Motivate me, people :)**

**Presenting...Chapter 14**

* * *

"Ryuzaki, I have a question," Taro asked.

"Yes?" The detective didn't look at Taro, but kept looking over the huge stack of papers in front of him.

"You had been the world's greatest detective before the Kira case came around, even if you weren't as well known. Then surely you must have heard of the people I killed, back in 2002.

"As a matter of fact, I did."

"How come you never came forward then?"

"Well, there simply wasn't a case. By the time it came to my attention, the whole thing was over, and no one had actually died, so I figured it must have been some kind of hoax. A very big, complicated, pointless hoax, but still just a fraud. It seemed beneath me at the time."

Taro thought about that, "I guess that makes sense." Then he saw that Ryuzaki had looked up from his papers, and seemed deep in thought.

"But..." he finally spoke, "something about it piqued my interest. Perhaps it was because nothing about it made sense. People mysteriously dying of heart attacks, and then coming back to life. It was clearly impossible, and yet if it was a hoax, what could have been the purpose? People usually forget about those kinds of things, but I kept it in the back of my mind, puzzling over it, even as I left to work on other cases.

"A year later, when Kira emerged, I remembered that, and began checking into it immediately. Because of you, I was examining Kira's deeds long before he expected me to. Once I had verified the deaths, I became somewhat worried."

"Because there had been resurrections before?"

"Yes. I can deal with criminals, but if the killings really were the work of the supernatural, I felt sure that I would lose. Though I never let it show, that slight doubt shook some of my confidence during the early stages of the investigation, although I was only 5% certain that the two incidents were connected.

"Then, once we actually discovered the Death Note and how it worked, I felt somewhat relieved. If Kira did not have the power to raise the dead, there was less to fear from him. I concluded that the earlier incident must have been unrelated, and banished it from my mind. It is only recently, since my resurrection, that I pieced together the actual truth."

_So, because of me, L was on the case fast enough to realize who Kira's first victim was, and if it weren't for that, he would never have even known where Kira was._ That made Taro feel a little better.

"I just thought of something," Taro said. "Couldn't Light just use the eraser to keep coming back to life forever? I mean, he would have to be killed by the Death Note for it to work, but if he wrote his name down, he could always arrange for someone to erase his name later, so he would come back to life. What's to stop him from doing that forever?"

"His lifespan, most likely," Ryuzaki said. "I've talked with the shinigami, and he said that human beings are destined (for lack of a better word) to live for a certain time, whether they will die from a disease, old age, or an accident. This time can be cut short by the Death Note. I would presume that using the eraser would only restore whatever life that person had left when he died."

"That makes sense," Taro said. "So no matter what he does, eventually Light's lifespan would just run out. That's good."

"It is, although he may try to use the strategy you mentioned to delay his final death. Either way, there is something he will need."

"What's that?" Taro asked.

"An accomplice," Ryuzaki informed him. "He will need someone to either bring him back to life, or to carry on his mission after he is gone."

Taro thought about that. That made things a lot more difficult. Instead of just waiting for Light to die, there would be more Kiras waiting in line._ Is that how it's going to be,_ he thought._ Fighting Kira after Kira in a never ending stalemate?_

At that moment, the line to Roger, Ryuzaki's assistant, opened up. The two of them waited, but Roger didn't say anything.

"Hello?" Ryuzaki finally prompted.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news for you, L," came the reply. Taro paled.

The voice wasn't Roger's.

* * *

"Is there anything else left?" Sayu asked.

"Just some of the files," Matsuda said, looking over from the driver's seat. The two of them had been clearing all of the equipment out of Light's old apartment, the former headquarters of the Kira Task Force. Aizawa and the others had pretty much left it the way it was since his death, but Ryuzaki had ordered them to remove everything. When asked why, he had replied that he didn't want Light to get his hands on anything of value.

Matsuda felt really guilty about, well, looting the place. After all, he had worked there with Light for years. They had chased Kira from there, or so he thought.

There were some days when he still couldn't believe Light was Kira. That he had fooled him right up to the end. Then it seemed like the others had known all along. He felt so blind. Had Light really manipulated him, personally, so easily?

Of course, since Light was back, he had other things to worry about. Now he just hoped Sayu wouldn't ask for any details about her brother's death. That was the last thing he wanted to talk about, especially to her.

"Matsuda..." Sayu asked, picking up something from the floor of his car, "what's this?"

Matsuda gulped. "It's a manga."

Sayu glared at him. "I know it's a manga, but it says 'The Death Note.' The majority of the population doesn't know about the Death Note, so what is this?"

"I picked it up a few years ago," Matsuda explained, "a little while after Light-I mean, after the case ended. It was a possible origin story for Kira. Or so everyone thought.

"But I knew the Death Note was real, so I wasn't sure who had written this. I was sure that the name Ashirogi Muto was a fake, so that was no help. It was published before Kira died, but obviously it hadn't been him. So I kept thinking that someone else might know about the Death Note, but I knew if I told anyone it might cause a panic over nothing."

Sayu skimmed through the book, thinking. About her brother, who had secretly been Kira. About Taro, who had known about the Death Note long before anyone else had. And about Matsuda, who had known about this manga, but hadn't said a word.

_We all have secrets, I guess._

"My husband must have written it," she said aloud.

"Really?"

"Yeah, look at this. It has the shinigami and everything, but it also has the eraser, which no one had any reason to suspect at the time, except Taro."

"Oh, you're right," Matsuda said, unsure of how to react.

"What was he thinking?" she wondered, shaking her head. "If Kira had found out about this, he would have killed him for sure."

"I guess Light wasn't that into mangas."

"But there's no way Taro could have guessed that. He didn't know Light was Kira."

"True, but see? It doesn't show his real name on the cover," Matsuda said. "My guess is he was really trying to lure Kira in." Then he looked at Sayu and saw the tears in her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"I just...wish he had told me," Sayu said. "On the same afternoon, I found that both Light and Taro had a secret life that they hid from me. And not just any secret lives, but Light was Kira and Taro used to have Kira's powers. I'm still having trouble taking it all in."

Matsuda bit his lip. Contrary to what everyone said, he really had matured a lot since the Kira case had ended, even if it didn't always show. He had once been attracted to Sayu himself, despite the differences in their age, and he wanted to comfort her and tell her that everything was alright. But they were both married now, and she was obviously vulnerable; if he wasn't careful, something might happen that they would both regret.

"I think you should talk to Taro about it," he suggested. "It's better to get all these feelings out in the open."

Sayu chuckled, drying her eyes. "I guess you're pretty good about expressing your feelings, Matsuda," she said.

Well, that wasn't exactly what he meant, but..."Yeah, I guess I am."

Matsuda looked at the road ahead and swore. "Oh, what's this?" It looked like a mob had gathered in the street. "Move it, people!" he shouted.

One of the people walked up to the car, and held up a piece of paper with a drawing on it. "Have either of you seen this man?"

Before Sayu could even glance at the picture, Matsuda snarled, "No, we haven't seen him. You people are obstructing traffic; you need to get out of the way!"

Without waiting for the man to respond, Matsuda sped off, angrily honking his horn at the massive crowd as he drove around them.

_What was that all about_, Sayu wondered. Then it was her turn to notice that Matsuda, despite making a big show of being annoyed, was shaking. "Oh man, this is really bad," he shuddered.

"What is?" she asked.

"Those people were looking for Ryuzaki."

* * *

**Earlier that afternoon...**

Yuu Sabanto logged in to her computer, and finally got the message she had been waiting for. _It's about friggin' time_, she thought.

The Kira forums had exploded about the cell that had mobilized in England. Apparently, they had attacked an orphanage that was run by L supporters, and Kira himself had given the kill order. Several of the followers had been arrested, but the mission had been a success. Sabanto was sure the cell she ran in Kanto would be called on soon.

What an honor. It was one thing to be in charge of spreading the word about Kira in Japan's most heavily populated region. In and of itself, it was ideal that it be done through a grassroots program, and not by an opportunist like Demegawa, or an airhead like Takada. Even after Kira's apparent departure, Yuu Sabanto and others like her had kept Kira's doctrine alive. No crime should go unpunished, and the punishment for criminals is death.

But when Kira returned, he had quickly made it clear that the cells would answer to him now, and were not to act without his permission. Immediately, all of the cell leaders had pledged their loyalty, and sworn to keep Kira updated on everything that went on in their region, so he could stay informed. Now he had started giving orders, and the attack in England was just the beginning.

Now, Lord Kira had a mission for her people as well.

The message supplied a description and sketch of L, along with the commend that he be photographed on sight. It also consisted of two addresses within the city, and the instructions to burn them to the ground. The target?

L's headquarters.

* * *

Getting out of the country was a lot easier than Light had expected. And when he arrived in the United States, Mr. Tollon was waiting for him just as he promised.

It went without saying that he needed to find some kind of permanent residence now that he was completely on his own. And considering that Carl Tollon was one of the millionaires who had promised most of his fortune to Kira's cause, it seemed like he would be willing to help.

Of course, he obviously hadn't told Tollon that he was Kira. As far as Tollon knew, he was a member of Japan's secret service, who was keeping in close contact with the pro-Kira groups in the United States, and had to be on-location. That way, he could remain locked away in his guest room, communicating with the cell members online, and the man wouldn't suspect a thing. Of course, it was almost a needless precaution; even if Tollon did think something was amiss, Kira had confirmed his identity when he ordered Tollon to offer Light Yagami board, and Tollon wouldn't refuse an order from Kira.

"Is there anything else I can do for you, Mr. Asahi?" Tollon asked, upon showing Light to his room.

"No, that's all for now. Thank you very much for letting me stay here."

"It was my pleasure," Tollon said. Then he closed the door, leaving Light and Justin alone.

This was the sort of moment where Ryuk would have made some kind of smart-ass comment. Justin, however, remained silent. _He's a lot more reserved_, Light thought.

Despite the fact that L was still alive, things were going rather well. Wammy's House had been taken care of, and L would soon find himself at the mercy of Kira's followers. Once he chose someone to be his proxy, he would be able to hold Japan with as much power as he had before. And once L was dead, there would be no one left to stop him.

Aloud, Light said, "This is perfect. From here, I'll be far enough away from L that he won't be able to find me. But of course, he'll have other things to worry about soon enough."

Justin nodded. "I guess so, _Mr. Asahi_."

It only made sense for Light to use a fake name upon entering the U.S. He had considered actually changing his legal name to Asahi; Justin had confirmed that that would change the name required to kill him. But that would take some time. Even though Light was becoming more and more sure that L (and whoever had the eraser) were not going to kill him, it made sense to come up with a quick countermeasure in the meantime.

Let's see...how to prevent oneself from being killed by the Death Note...

"Justin," Light finally said. "Could you go to the shinigami world for me? I need you to deliver a message."


	15. Fractures

**Thank you for being so patient. You shall all be rewarded!**

**...with Chapter 15: Fractures**

* * *

Taro sat in the nearly empty room, contemplating his position. He wondered if the people who had worked with the original Task Force ever felt such despair.

Back when Kira first appeared, people had been cautious about him. Many supported him in secret, but news stations refused to acknowledge his existence for awhile, and even then they were very careful about what they said. As the years went on, he became more and more influential. But Taro had never seen Kira so aggressive. Maybe that's just because he had never really been on the inside before now.

But he was in now. According to L, he had used this room in the very beginning. Before there was a task force, back when he worked alone. Supposedly, this was a location that Kira didn't know about, so the five of them were setting up headquarters here. Taro had scouted out the place, while the others were trying to smuggle Ryuzaki in, which wasn't easy with the diligent Kira supporters on the streets.

Taro heard the door open, and Sayu entered. "Where are the others?" Taro asked.

"Ryuzaki thought it would be less suspicious if came in smaller groups," Sayu said. "Matsuda and Yamamoto are hiding Ryuzaki in the car; people won't ask any questions about two police officers. They should be here in about fifteen minutes, and we'll start the meeting then."

"Good," Taro said. "In the meantime, we need to talk."

Sayu tilted her head inquisitively.

"About this," Taro said, holding up the eraser.

"Oh," Sayu said, frowning. It was almost like she had forgotten that she was mad at him. Maybe she just hadn't expected to bring him up.

"I guess it's pretty late for me to just say 'I'm sorry,'" Taro admitted. "And I don't know if it's a really an apology, since I can't say I would have done it any differently..."

"You're not helping your case," Sayu muttered, folding her arms.

"Well, personally, I don't know what you expected!" Taro snapped. Sayu looked stunned, but he went on. "I couldn't trust anyone. I saw Kira everywhere I went. And I don't just mean I suspected practically everyone. I also saw his influence everywhere. The news, the conversations, the piles of corpses...everything was a reminder of what I had done!

"You can't imagine how that feels! Every night, I relive that day over and over again, and every night I wish I could take back what I did, undo that terrible mistake! And then every day I wake up and have to deal with the consequences of it!"

"I'm trying to tell you that it doesn't have to be like that," Sayu said. "You don't have to bear it alone. You were always there for me when I needed comforting, but when you need it, you close yourself off. We have to trust each other."

"But trust gets people killed in this day and age. The only reason I'm still alive is because I guarded my name from your family," Taro snapped angrily. But as soon as the words left his mouth, Taro knew he had gone too far.

"How dare you?" Sayu demanded, trembling with anger. "How could you think that you're the only one who's been affected by this? How do think I feel about my own brother being a murderer?"

"I didn't-" Taro began, but now it was Sayu's turn to let her anger out.

"Kira is a menace to everyone, not just you. All of our old friends never talk to us anymore, because Kira has put constant fear into their lives. Mr. Matsuda lost all of his friends. Ryuzaki actually died. And out of everyone in my family, I'm the only one who's still alive, aside from my brother. But in a way, I envy Mom and Dad; at least they didn't have to live knowing their son was a killer! So stop feeling so sorry for yourself; you made a mistake. And it's true that because of that mistake, a lot of people have died, and other people may keeping dying. But, as tragic as it is, that sort of thing happens. You're not the only one who's suffered because of Kira."

"I never said I was," Taro protested.

"Than stop acting like it!"

Taro was silent. What had he done over the past 10 years? Ultimately, not enough. Sure, he had spent some time trying to find Kira, but most of it had been brooding and sitting, constantly reminded of how he had screwed up. Even now, when Kira was technically closer than ever, he had contributed very little, at least towards positive results. He felt like he was just along for the ride. The guilt of what he had done was still weighing him down, and kept him closed off from the rest of the world.

_I've been in this battle for all the wrong reasons_, he thought._ It was to undo_ my _error, reconcile_ my_ sin. It was about_ me. _But just because it was my fault doesn't mean that anyone else feels less scared than I do. It's for _all_ the victims of Kira that I should be fighting for, not just me._

As if reading his thoughts, Sayu knelt in front of him. "Please," she begged, "don't hide things from me anymore. If things have become so bad that we can't even trust each other, then Kira really has won."

Taro knew she was right. "There is one thing. But-"

Just then, L, Matsuda, and Yamamoto entered the room. Taro stopped mid-sentence. Sayu looked at him expectantly, but he mouthed, "Later." She nodded understanding that he did intend to tell her, and was not trying to keep hiding things.

* * *

Sabanto couldn't believe her eyes.

_A real...shinigami?_

"Are you...Kira?" she asked it.

"No," it answered. "But Kira sent me. My name is Armonia Justin."

"Why have you come to me?" she asked. Not that she didn't feel greatly honored.

"Kira has invited you to take on an even greater role in the salvation of this world." The death god pointed at the sheets of paper in her hand. "With that, you will have the power to kill as Kira can. He wants you to assist him in cleansing the world yourself."

Sabanto's eyes grew wide with excitement. A chance to...join Kira personally...in his desire to create a new world? This was what she had always dreamed of.

"There's one more thing," Justin said. "Kira wishes you to make a trade with me. If you give up half of your remaining life, I can grant you the power to know a person's name just from looking at their face."

Sabanto smiled. With that ability, she could be even more useful. "If it serves Lord Kira, I will gladly accept."

Justin smiled. So far, Light had been extraordinarily thorough in his planning. If Yuu Sabanto agreed to handle the killing in Japan, Light would be free to focus on keeping the public on his side. He had even arranged to forfeit ownership of the notebook while retaining his memories. Now, if Ryuk had given the shinigami eyes to anyone, they wouldn't be able to tell that Light was Kira unless they already knew. And then there was Light's bold demand to the shinigami king.

_I can see why you like this human so much, Ryuk_, Justin thought. _I hope things are just as entertaining on your end._

* * *

"I'm afraid our situation is much worse than I thought," L said.

''Really?" Matsuda asked. Considering how bad things had gotten during the original investigation, it was almost impossible that things could be any worse. "Oh man..."

L continued. "Firstly, the locations of both the secure headquarters that I set up during the original Kira threat and Light's apartment, where the Task Force worked after my death, have been leaked to Kira's followers, most likely through Light himself. In any event, both locations have been destroyed."

"Set afire. Probably to smoke us out, so to speak," Yamamoto said.

"Yes. We are very lucky that we already retrieved the equipment we needed, and that no one was still inside."

"But how are they going to get away with this?" Sayu asked. "Arson? Surely the police have found whoever did it?"

"I would imagine not," Taro said darkly. "Kira's followers are not likely to give up one of their own. And even if they did, it would do no good. Threats of imprisonment won't deter people who take such fanatical measures, especially if it turns out Kira himself gave the order."

Sayu looked surprised at Taro's tone, but Taro knew what L's other bit of news was. Things were even worse than all that.

"I've also been told that Wammy's House has been discovered by Kira's followers as well," L said, clenching his fists.

The detective's face was pale with barely contained rage. Taro had seen that rage before, when L had first heard the news. He could never have imagined Ryuzaki could become almost unhinged the way he did. Near's death had been nothing compared to this. Ryuzaki may have acted cold and indifferent most of the time, but he really did care about the people close to him, and it was clear he was not taking the deaths of those children very well.

Matsuda gasped in horror, but the name didn't mean anything to the others, so Taro explained. "Wammy's House is the orphanage where Ryuzaki grew up. The other children there were all groomed to follow in his footsteps, and even surpass him."

Sayu nodded. "So that's where Near grew up?"

"Right."

Yamamoto spoke up nervously. "So, when you say they 'discovered' it..."

Ryuzaki gritted his teeth. "I mean they killed them. A group of Kira supporters stormed the orphanage and killed Roger and the other letters."

There was a moment of silence. No one had doubted for a moment that Kira would murder innocent people, but there was something much more disturbing about the fact that he had inspired other people to murder as well, even if it was only under his authority. The fact that many of the orphanage's inhabitants were children just made it even more horrifying.

"Did...did any of them get away?" Sayu asked cautiously.

"One of the older letters was away when it happened. He informed me of the situation. Kira doesn't know he's still alive, so he may be able to help us out," Ryuzaki said bitterly. "But no others survived."

_Does he see his legacy as a kind of immortality?_ Taro thought._ That's it. As long as someone succeeds him, he will live on in some way. But now that there's no one left, he's looking at the end of his legacy. To him it's like staring at Death's door: even more so than when he actually died._

"How did this happen?" Matsuda wailed. "Even when things were at their worst, it wasn't like this. It really is like we're the criminals now."

"It's the people," Taro said.

"Correct," Ryuzaki agreed, slipping back into his analytic state. "Kira may have had a certain amount of influence over the people before, but he only directly exerted his influence through his own murders and later through the media, to cast himself in a positive light. Now, however, he intends to play a much more ruthless game by taking direct control of his followers."

"What do you mean by 'direct control?'" Yamamoto asked.

"Through the internet," Ryuzaki said, sitting down by his computer and typing furiously. "Out of all the pro-Kira websites, there's one that I'm sure Light himself frequents regularly. Furthermore, it's possible for Kira to connect directly to his followers through this site, though his orders are often passed down through an established hierarchy." He pulled up the site, and after just a few minutes of perusing, they could see that he was right.

"Wait...so he _literally_ has his own army now?" Sayu gasped.

"In Kira's ideal world, these people would most likely act merely as a secret police, one that is highly efficient and almost anyone could belong to, and provide Kira with steady updates on punishable criminals," Ryuzaki explained. "However, when he is facing a significant threat-"

"Like us," Matsuda piped up.

"-then yes, he could use his followers as an organized civilian force," Ryuzaki finished, as though Matsuda hadn't spoken. "It is no doubt through this means that he arranged both the attack on the Task Force's old headquarters and on Wammy's House."

"So what you're saying is that he really has turned the public almost completely against us," Taro summed up. "Even the people who might support us can't act when Kira's secret police may be watching their every move."

Matsuda cleared his throat. "Light said-wow, I guess that's irony for you-anyway, he said that if the Task Force won the fight against Kira, Kira would eventually be viewed as evil by the people. But if Kira won, he would be justice. The public's opinion would ultimately be dependent on the outcome."

"That would have been true at the time," Ryuzaki admitted. "But Light has changed the rules. Now the outcome is much more greatly dependent on the people. Just killing Kira may not be enough; we must destroy the false image of justice he has built up."

Something about that last sentence didn't sound quite right. "Kill Kira?"

"Yes. Kira's control is so widespread that we cannot be sure any attempt to have him executed legitimately would be possible. He is no longer fighting by the old rules, and our roles have been reversed. In a sense, it is now he who will be the lawful executioner and we the murdering criminals."

L's words took a minute to sink in. The implications of his words hung in the air. At this point, it was no longer a matter of bringing Kira to the legitimate authority. In order to stop Kira, they would have to murder him.

Taro was the first to speak. "In that case, I have just the thing," and the look in his eye told Sayu that he was about to tell her that one thing. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a piece of paper. Ryuzaki was the first to realize what it was.

"A page of the Death Note?"

"Yes," Taro explained. "You burned the whole notebook I found at C-Kira's house, but this is the page that Ryuk gave to me, the one your name was originally written on. I had hoped we wouldn't have to use it."

Ryuzaki's eyes narrowed, as he pondered Taro's words very carefully. Then the look passed. "You propose we simply do it the easy way."

"Yes. If we have indeed resigned ourselves to taking the law into our own hands, we might as well not make things more difficult for ourselves."

Ryuzaki nodded.

"But if it's all the same to you," Taro insisted, staring at the sheet of paper with loathing, "I'd rather not be the one to do it."

"I understand," Ryuzaki said. "However we will all share in the responsibility. After Kira's threat is over, we will turn ourselves in to the police as murderers, and will be judged accordingly. Provided the Kira followers don't exact their revenge on us first."

"But that still doesn't solve the problem of the people overwhelmingly supporting Kira," Matsuda objected. "Not to mention if Kira has come up with some kind of backup plan in case he dies. What if he has a proxy?"

"In that case, one of us will make the deal for the shinigami eyes, so we will be able to recognize the new owner." Immediately, Matsuda volunteered.

"We'll make the arrangements afterwards. What we have to do now..." Ryuzaki said, looking at each team member in turn, "...is decide who will write Light's name."

Once again, everyone was silent. Ryuzaki was almost literally talking about suicide. Even if they won, it would be up to the State whether they would be convicted of murder. Did they really have no other choice? And even if they did, were they willing to become Kira to stop him? Were they ready to take a life? Taro knew he wouldn't, and he was pretty sure that Sayu wouldn't either, even though it was her own brother who had betrayed her. Somehow, he took comfort in that. Ryuzaki would no doubt write the name if no one else would, but even he clearly didn't want to.

Finally...

"I'll do it."

Matsuda gaped at Yamamoto. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Yamamoto said. "I'll do it. I just wish you guys didn't have to pay for it, too."

"Since we're not stopping you, that's the way it has to be," Ryuzaki said. "Now, if you would." He handed him a pencil.

Yamamoto picked up the pencil and Taro closed his eyes. He didn't care about possibly going to prison for this, but it sickened him to think that Sayu might. Her words to him earlier came back to him, and at that moment he truly realized that she was the biggest victim of all, and cursed himself once again for being so selfish.

Yamamoto began to write.

_L...i...g...h...t.__..Y...a..._

Then the unthinkable happened.

Yamamoto suddenly doubled over in agony, his eyes bulging with pain and fear. And before anyone else could react, the young detective was laying on the ground, dead.

They simply stared at Yamamoto's corpse and the half-written name in horror. And there was only one question that burned in their minds: what went wrong? _What went wrong?_

* * *

**And by the way, I know that Yamamoto wouldn't actually be writing in English, so, take those letters as metaphor, I guess.**

**Don't forget to leave a review :)**


	16. The Darkest Hour

**I apologize for the long wait. The least I can do is release this chapter to you guys as a New Years' present.**

**I haven't sat down to write in quite a while, so, as of yet, I haven't written any of the future chapters (though I have a general idea of how they will turn out). So the wait for Chapter 17 may unfortunately be even longer than this one was.**

**I reiterate that I DO intend to finish this, even if it takes an unreasonable length of time to do so. **

**Anyway, I hope you like Chapter 16. I really think this one turned out pretty well.**

* * *

Sayu screamed. Matsuda started to run to Yamamoto's side, but Ryuzaki yelled out, "_Nobody move!_" and the whole room froze. All eyes were on L, and his eyes were visibly in a state of panic.

Taro shook his head in disbelief. What had just happened was clearly impossible. While Yamamoto wasn't using a false name (or at least a name Light didn't know about), there was no way Light, or a proxy, could have known that Yamamoto was working with the Task Force, and if they did, why hadn't they waited to learn the names of the other Task Force members?

Next to him, Matsuda seemed to be choking. Taro suddenly thought he was having a heart attack as well, until he managed to say, "It's...just like...last time."

"What's like last time?" Taro asked.

"When Ryuzaki died, there was a moment where every one of us was all sure we would be next," Matsuda explained. "When the moment passed, the only thing we could think of was why we had seemingly been spared. Now we know it was because there was a traitor in our midst, and he needed us alive."

Taro immediately understood what Matsuda meant. Could it be that one of them was responsible for this?

Sayu? No, it was impossible. Just...not possible.

Matsuda? No, the guy wasn't likely to go over to Kira's way like that. Kira was responsible for killing most of his friends. That left...

...Ryuzaki.

Despite being able to sympathize with the detective in a lot of ways, something about him unsettled Taro. He barely slept, he was always munching on sweet food, and he gave every indication of a man who was obsessed. But what exactly was he obsessed with? Was it really Kira and the Death Notes, as he said? Or was it a challenge? After all, he had gravitated toward's Taro's initial killings precisely because it was a seemingly unsolvable mystery. Ryuk had started this whole mess because of his own boredom; maybe that same quality was what kept Ryuzaki wrapped up in it.

Taro shook his head. Even if that were true, there still wouldn't have been reason for Ryuzaki to sabotage his own efforts. Not to mention that Ryuzaki wouldn't have had any opportunity to kill Yamamoto anyway. Still, though, there was definitely something strange about the guy that made Taro wonder why he had been so quick to trust him in the first place, back at Sayu's house. He was suddenly very nervous about what Ryuzaki might do, in his restlessness, if they ever actually stopped Kira.

Taro looked around, and everyone seemed to be sharing some similar sentiments of mistrust towards the others. Remembering what Sayu had said earlier, he pointed out, "Let's not forget that we know who Kira is, and he's not here. We have to trust each other. Kira would just want us to fight."

"Then how did this happen?" Matsuda demanded.

Ryuzaki was silent.

"Maybe Kira's followers noticed him spending a lot of time away from the office, concluded he was up to something, and told Light about it," Sayu suggested. "Since he doesn't use a fake name, it wouldn't be hard for the public to get that info to Kira."

Matsuda shook his head. "If that were true, they would have gotten me, too: I've taken even more time off than he has. If anyone were paying attention, it would be easy for someone to find out my real name as well. The fact that Kira apparent still hasn't figured it out is nothing short of a miracle."

"Well, he still has no reason to think you're alive anymore," Taro said.

"True, but if more and more of his 'dead' enemies start reappearing, he might decide to look into that," Matsuda pointed out.

"Kira's not even looking here," Ryuzaki finally said. All eyes turned to him again.

"If Light were in the area, he would never have been so careless as to not monitor the police's movements closely. He has probably retreated to another location and is operating in Japan through proxies, who might not be quite as thorough as he is."

Matsuda sighed with relief, until the real message in Ryuzaki's words hit him. "You mean...Light had nothing to do with Yamamoto's death?"

"Right. Whether it is one of Light's proxies or not, there is an 80% chance we are dealing with another individual."

After that, brainstorming drew abruptly to a halt. To narrow down the identity of the proxy, they needed to know how he had found Yamamoto's name and connected him to L. But there was no reason why anyone who found out Yamamoto's name wouldn't have found Matsuda's, or left him alive after finding it. _How did Kira manage to outsmart us,_ Taro thought.

_We have to think outside the box._ "Are we sure it's a proxy?"

Matsuda looked up. "What do you mean?"

"Think about it. Even if it was a proxy, why would he have given the game away by killing one of us if he couldn't kill all of us? That would just make it easier for us to find him."

"So you're saying it is Light?" Sayu asked.

Taro shook his head. "No, Light wouldn't have just killed Yamamoto either, for the same reasons. I'm saying, are Kira or a proxy of his the only two possibilities?"

Ryuzaki said. "It could be a third party who has somehow come into possession of a Death Note, like the Second Kira did. Unfortunately, if that is the case, this person is obviously not supportive of our cause, and our information may be being leaked to him. The fact that the shinigami can give a Death Note to whomever they want makes things very unpredictable."

Then a horrible thought occurred to Taro. "What if...it actually _was_ the shinigami?"

Sayu's face paled with terror. "You mean...the actual shinigami might have killed him themselves? But why?"

"Because he was about to kill Light," Taro answered. "That would explain it. The shinigami can see our names, and they would have a reason to keep Light alive so he could entertain them. One of them killed Yamamoto, and they left us alive because if all of us are dead, they don't have their fun."

The room went dead. If the shinigami really were defending Kira, things were grim. Ryuzaki in particular looked like he had been hit by a truck. His normally alert eyes had a very dark look in them. "Excuse me," he said quietly, and walked out of the room.

Ryuk's eerie chuckle broke the silence. "Sounds like you guys are screwed."

"Would you mind contributing something useful for a change?" Taro snapped.

Ryuk shrugged. "I'll still take half of Matsuda's lifespan."

Taro turned to Matsuda. "That's probably not a good idea. We need to rethink our strategy first."

Matsuda shook his head. "No. I need to do this. Besides, at the rate things are going, I probably won't need that extra lifespan anyway."

"Just what I wanted to hear," Ryuk laughed. And without another word, he passed his hand over Matsuda's face.

The young officer blinked. He glanced at Taro. "Oh...this is SO COOL! I can see your name and lifespan and everything!"

"Uh, duh," Sayu said, stifling a laugh. "That's what they're supposed to do."

"Ha, oh yeah," Matsuda chuckled. "I guess so."

_Why are we laughing_, Taro thought. And yet there was something just kind of funny about the hopelessness of the situation. _I guess this is what it's like to hit rock bottom_.

Ryuk, oddly enough, was now the only one not laughing. "So that's it? What are you going to do now?"

"What _can_ we do?" Taro asked. "The shinigami apparently think it'll be better if Kira wins, and they can kill us whenever they want, so what's the point?"

"Those idiots," Ryuk grumbled. "Who wins isn't what makes the whole thing fun. It's how the battle goes. Do they not get it?"

"Maybe Kira bribed them or something," Matsuda pondered.

"Right. So they're working directly for Kira." Taro shook his head. "That's _so_ much better."

"What could Light bribe them with?" Sayu asked. "Unless he can somehow give them more lifespans for every person he kills." She looked at Ryuk. "Is that possible?"

"Ordinarily I would say 'no,'" Ryuk said, "but if anyone could think of a way to do it, it would be your brother."

There was silence for a minute. Then Matsuda stood up and moved over to the chair where Ryuzaki had been moments earlier. He sat down, and pulled his legs up close to his chest. Then he reached for one of Ryuzaki's sugar cubes.

"Matsuda...what are you doing?" Taro asked.

"Ryuzaki said that sitting like this helped him think. That it increased his intelligence by 50% or something."

Sayu couldn't help but laugh. "Really?"

"Yeah. I figure it couldn't hurt. I'm not about to give up just because there are a few dark clouds in the sky."

Taro personally thought it was just Matsuda's optimism, combined with wishful thinking. Fighting the shinigami directly was literally impossible, so why act like there was any hope? Besides, there was no way that just sitting a certain way could actually make you smarter.

Matsuda's face lit up.

_No way._

"Ryuk," Matsuda asked, "can shinigami die?"

Ryuk looked surprised at the question. "Uh, yes actually, we can."

"What happens to them when they die?"

"From what I understand, their bodies sort of turn to sand or something," Ryuk said. "But I haven't actually seen it happen before," he quickly added.

Before Taro could point out that Ryuk wasn't completely trustworthy, Matsuda shouted with triumph.

"YES! That means that the pile of dust we found _was_ actually Rem!" Seeing that everyone else in the room (except possibly Ryuk) was confused, he quickly described the events that immediately followed L's death nine years ago.

"Now, answer me this, Ryuk," Matsuda said, ready for the big finish. "We know that shooting you won't actually kill you. So under what conditions will a shinigami die?"

"Well, we steal lifespans from humans, and add them to our own," Ryuk said. "So as long as we write in the Death Note, we're basically immortal. But if we go a long time without writing a name down, we will eventually die. Also-"

Ryuk cut himself off, and Taro feared he might just decide to keep silent. But only a moment passed before Ryuk continued:

"Rem also said that if a shinigami fell in love with a human, and prevented their death from occurring, the shinigami would also die, because it's a betrayal of our purpose. 'We exist only to take human lives' or some crap like that."

"I'm surprised you gave us that much info," Taro said. "That's a lot of stuff we could use against you."

Ryuk laughed harshly. "Yeah, good luck trying to get me to give up my life for a human."

"In other words," Matsuda concluded unabashed, "shinigami are not allowed to add to human lifespans."

"Yeah," Ryuk shrugged. "So what?"

Matsuda pulled out a pen and paper. "Well, look at it this way. This is how I understand the whole taking-lifespan thing, based on what Ryuk has told me. Say we have a 30-year-old man who is scheduled to die at age 50.

"If a shinigami writes his name in the Death Note, that shinigami gains whatever amount of time the man didn't live. In this case, 20 years. So we take the number of years he's supposed to live and subtract the number of years he actually lives to get this."

Matsuda wrote down: 50-30=20

"However, suppose a shinigami uses the Death Note to extend this man's life once he reaches 50, say by killing a mugger, and he lives until he's 60. That creates an imbalance. There are only 50 years to go around, so the extra years the man lives has to come from somewhere. So it comes from the shinigami who kept him alive."

50-60=-10

"Thus the shinigami can lose his own lifespan, which could wind up killing him. It's not really about any betrayal of purpose: it just adds up that way.

"But, if a shinigami prevents a murder via Death Note, what would happen? Nothing, because that death has nothing to do with the length of the man's lifespan, so he simply lives out the remainder of his life."

50-50=0

Taro was impressed. He knew that Matsuda was smarter than he looked, but for him to put all of this together...before Ryuzaki, even. Still, Ryuzaki hadn't had all the pieces, since he was dead while these events took place.

"How does this help us?" Sayu asked.

"First of all, take the shinigami trying to kill us. It seems kind of odd that they would do something so dangerous, just for the sake of their entertainment. But we can see that there is a difference between stopping us from killing Kira with a Death Note or with, er, 'conventional means.'"

Sayu looked unfazed now. "So you're saying that if we write Light's name down, the shinigami can stop us with impunity. But if they tried to stop us from shooting him, they would risk killing themselves."

"Right," Matsuda said. "So we can still win this. We're back to square one, but we're still in the game."

_That could actually work_, Taro thought._ But there's one problem_.

"Sayu," he said, "go get Ryuzaki. He may somehow know all of this already, but we need to be sure we all come up with a plan." Sayu nodded, and ran out of the room after the detective, now full of a hope they hadn't had before.

_Hopefully, it's not another lie._

Taro turned to Matsuda. "Of course, if he has another 20 years or so to live, then any attempts we make in the near future will end in failure. If that's the case, we may have to risk the Death Note after all."

Matsuda's face fell. "But how will we know?" Taro noted that he, ironically, had put his legs down.

"You've got the eyes," Taro replied. "All we need is a picture of him, and you can take a look at his lifespan."

Matsuda immediately pulled out the files. Taro kicked himself for having deliberately waited until Sayu left the room, especially after all she had called him out on for not being honest. With any luck, there wouldn't be any snags, and there would be no harm done.

But, of course, that wasn't going to happen.

Matsuda stared closely at the picture of Sayu's brother and turned white. It was just an ordinary looking picture to Taro, but whatever it was that Matsuda could see clearly had him worried.

* * *

As it turned out, convincing the shinigami king to protect him from the Death Note had been surprisingly easy.

What had obviously helped, though, was getting Justin to clearly explain the angle the death gods had in all this. Since the shinigami had clearly been dissatisfied with the other humans to possess Death Notes, they obviously needed Light, while the others were dispensable. In any religion or regime, there would always be those who would refuse to submit and fight back. So the shinigami could still have their fun even by supporting Light, and Justin had done a great job of making this clear.

_You may be able to fight all the Kiras in the world, Ryuzaki_, Light thought, _but you can't fight the gods themselves_.

* * *

"So you're sure?"

"There's no other explanation."

"It could be coincidence."

"No way. It's a sign."

Taro and Matsuda's discussion was cut short when Sayu burst into the room. Alone.

"Where's Ryuzaki?" Taro asked.

Sayu's breath was short from panic. "He left," she panted. Seeing that they weren't quite comprehending what she meant, she added, "He's going to get killed!"

* * *

Ryuzaki had always been the first to admit he hated to lose. Often that hatred spurred him on in the face of adversity. But sometimes, such childish mentalities had consequences.

This was one of those times.

He had tried. He really had. And maybe he had even done the best job he could possibly do, despite the fact that so many people had still died.

But he would not be a puppet of the shinigami. He refused to dance around for their amusement, and if that was all the effect this investigation was going to have, there was no point in continuing. If the gods had really decided that they wanted Kira to rule, they would have to do it without using L as their plaything.

This was it; the final defeat. After nearly a decade of conflict between L and Kira, before and after death, he was the one who had broken first. And now, there was nothing left to do but turn himself over to the de facto ruler of the world, appointed by the gods of death. With any luck, he might be able to reason with Kira before he died. Convince him to be gentler with his people, at least.

No, he wouldn't beg. He had more dignity than that.

He turned the corner to the police station, where the pro-Kira crowd had gathered, angrily demanding L's arrest. Whether Kira had actually told them to carry out L's "judgment" themselves or not, they sure seemed like they would be willing to. He had to stop them. Then the mob might be less inclined to go after the other Task Force members.

Ryuzaki opened his mouth to call out and turn himself in, but the words caught in his throat. Suddenly, he felt fear swelling up inside him. Suddenly, he wanted to live.

_Why should I be afraid of death_, he thought. _I've been there before._

And yet his mouth would not move.

At that moment, someone called out, "Hey, it's him!" Everyone turned, but Ryuzaki's legs were already carrying him in the other direction.

So much for dignity.

With the roaring mob on his heels, he ran, with his hands over his face. No doubt they would try to photograph him, or perhaps Kira had instructed them to simply get rid of him themselves. It hadn't exactly stopped them over in England.

Again, he was struck by his own irrational behavior. Why was it so hard to just give himself up, when he had resolved to do just that moments before? He had faced death before, and he had risked his life on multiple occasions. Sure, this was suicide, but there was nothing else that could be done. Why didn't he have the guts?

_Because I know I am the last one_, he thought. _Even in death, I took comfort in knowing that Near and Mello would be able to carry on my work. Now, only X remains. Perhaps he will find a way, but...no, it's impossible. I thought I could set things right, but Kira has outmaneuvered me completely._

_He really is as a god._

Ryuzaki knew he couldn't head back to the hotel room; he wouldn't bring the others down with him. After all, perhaps they could find some way to live in Kira's world, even if he couldn't. Instead, he turned right, and headed toward the bridge. Maybe he could lose them in the river.

As he neared the bridge, he heard a woman's voice cry out, "Give yourself up. Kira demands it." She sounded very authoritative, and also a bit familiar. _Could that be the proxy?_ Ryuzaki resisted the temptation to look and see who Kira had chosen to do his bidding. He didn't want to give them the satisfaction. He prepared to jump.

Then he heard a shot ring out.

He simultaneously felt a sharp pain in his chest.

He looked down and saw that his white shirt was stained with blood. He heard the woman yell with surprise. He felt his eyelids grow heavy.

_So...that's it, then._

Unable to keep his balance, L fell forward, and plummeted into the dark water below.


	17. Counterattack

**Well, here we go. The story approaches its endgame: only two more chapters after this. Thank you all for sticking with me; I hope I won't keep you waiting too much longer.**

* * *

Sabanto clenched her fists as she watched L fall. Or at least, the man she thought was L; she hadn't gotten a good enough look at his face to be certain. She turned back and scanned the crowd. Who had killed the man? That was Kira's duty (or hers, if he so chose). Kira's reign meant a determined, absolute justice, not a justice that just anyone could decide.

_That's a disadvantage of having to work through the population_, she thought. _There's always one guy that thinks he knows better than us. _She wanted to find whoever had disobeyed Kira's orders, but to take further charge here would risk exposing herself as his chosen one. And she couldn't allow that.

This was not good. Not only was Sabanto not sure that the dead man was L, but it would be impossible to confirm his identity or even verify his death now that he had fallen into the river. But everyone here would believe it, and word would no doubt get back to Kira that L was indeed dead.

With that in mind, Sabanto turned and began walking away. As much as she didn't want to report a potential failure, she had to contact Kira and get the story straight.

The rest of the crowd soon began to disperse, their duty done. One person, however, remained for some time afterwards, gazing out at the spot where L's body had gone under. A trembling hand clutched the pistol hidden beneath his coat.

_That was close_, thought Taro, shivering from the thought of what he had been driven to do, _but it was our only chance_.

* * *

Strangely, the sight of the river was far less intimidating during the night. Perhaps that was because there were no Kira supporters-or anyone else-around. That would make the next step much easier.

Taro reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. Using the light from his cell phone, he illuminated the words written on it.

_L Lawliet, shot by another person._

_He decides to run away from the Kira supporters, and uses his hands to prevent them from seeing his face. He runs to the old bridge by the river, and is shot in the back. His body falls into the water, and disappears._

Even to save Ryuzaki, writing those words had been terrible for him. With each letter, Taro remembered the faces of the bullies he had killed as a middle school student. Two kids who had died through his actions, and they were certainly not the last. Even after all these years, he had never forgotten what they looked like. While they had of course never found out what happened, they hadn't bullied him anymore after that, and he assumed they had gone to live their lives as better people.

But Taro? He had killed yet another man, with that same damned book, and an ally at that. Maybe it was the only way to end it all, but he still hated Kira for driving him to this point.

He couldn't stand to look at the words another second. He whipped out the eraser, and wiped them out of existence.

Then he put the paper and his cell phone, took off his jacket, and dove into the water.

Moments later, another man broke the surface of the water. Before he could even begin gasping for air, Taro begin to pull him to shore, imploring him to make as little noise as possible.

"It's alright, Ryuzaki. I'll tell you everything."

* * *

After being taken back to the hotel and being warmed up from his swim, Ryuzaki insisted that Taro explain himself.

"I shot you," he said

Everyone took private satisfaction that, for once, L was the one who was confused.

"You what?"

"When you left, we knew what you were about to do. You would rather die than give Kira the satisfaction of beating you," Taro said. "So, I wrote down in the Death Note that you would get shot, and then I shot you. And now that the name has been erased, you're back with us again."

L blinked, unable to form words. Maybe he just hadn't expected the same people who had frequently called him too radical in his methods to carry out such an extreme plan.

"Why did you shoot me?" Ryuzaki asked. "Why not Matsuda?"

"Because it was supposed to cause a scene," Taro said. "The public now thinks you're dead, which will give us a bit of breathing room for our next move. Matsuda is known to be a member of the police, but it would be easier for me to pass of as a Kira supporter in case I were spotted. And I had you run to the bridge and fall in the water so that no one would be able to double-check you name."

_So the Death Note was influencing me_, Ryuzaki thought. _That's why my actions felt inconsistent. I have to admit, this was a clever plan, if futile._

"What was the point, though?" Ryuzaki asked. "If the shinigami are involved, there's no way to win."

"Not necessarily," Taro said. He quickly explained what Matsuda had said about shinigami and lifespans. As long as they didn't specifically try to use the Death Note to kill Light, the shinigami wouldn't bother them.

_Hopefully_, Taro thought

"If I might ask," Ryuzaki pointed out, "did it occur to you to just take the risk and kill Light with the Death Note, instead of coming up with that plan to save me?"

Taro wished he hadn't actually said that: it was _talking_ about using the Death Note that had gotten Yamamoto killed in the first place.

"No," he said. "Because none of us have to die. I have an idea, but we need your help to turn it into a real plan. If the shinigami want action, that's what we'll give them."

* * *

Light frowned. Sabanto's report had him concerned.

First of all, who had brought a gun to the rally? That was specifically forbidden: if the English cell had managed to round up L's successors with only cameras and a few crowbars, then the Japanese cell could take down L without resorting to firearms. The idea wasn't to get people to carry out their own justice, after all. Only one person had the authority to kill people, and that was Kira.

Second of all, just as Sabanto had said, the circumstances surrounding his death were suspicious. The description did sound like him, but there was no definitive evidence that either it was actually L, or that he hadn't faked his death somehow. And if L was already in league with whoever possessed the eraser, the whole thing could be just a trick. And after that last announcement of L's death had backfired, he couldn't take any chances. Sitting down at his desk, he opened the Kira site, so he could see what sort of rumors were going around.

Justin looked over his shoulder. "What will you do now?"

"Say nothing," Light replied. "Declaring L to be dead or to be alive wouldn't accomplish anything. And thinking he's dead will improve morale. If he turns up, we'll just track him down again."

Justin frowned himself. Things weren't moving quickly over here. Sure, there was some satisfaction to be gained from seeing how masterfully Light was outmaneuvering this L guy, but Light just sat in his room, plotting and working behind the scenes, while the real battle was actually being fought thousands of miles away. Light wasn't even writing in the Death Note himself: he had given up ownership, but kept the book in constant contact with his body and arranged for a scribe to write on the pages. Something about keeping the enemy from recognizing him or something. This was not nearly as fun as Ryuk had described.

_If this keeps up_, Justin thought, _I might just write his name down and go back to my realm. There may not be much there, but at least the shinigami can play good dice games._

On cue, a message popped up on Light's computer, announcing that someone had entered the online chat room. In response to the wave of celebration over the "reports of L's death," the newcomer said, "_But Kira has already informed us of L's death once. How do we know this isn't just a publicity stunt?_" Light shook his head. Even in a perfect world, there would always be some dissenters and malcontents. This was of no concern.

Then he noticed the username: _LightY._

_Someone knows that I'm Kira, and they intended for me to see this_, Light realized.

The chat room continued:

_"Kira wouldn't do that. That was just a mistake."_

_"But this does look kind of familiar."_

_"So what?"_

_"Maybe Kira didn't actually say anything this time? Can't he just tell us directly?"_

The mysterious LightY responded with: "_If Kira is really doing this for us, why wouldn't he just clarify for us?_"

_Dammit, he's trying to entrap me, _Light thought._ He knows that I can't say anything in this situation._

The chat had plenty to say on that:

_"It would be nice for him to clear this up."_

_"Why should he? Remember what happened last time?"_

_"That's the point, dumbass. Telling us L was dead right before the guy showed up on TV was a major screw-up. He needs to be sure."_

LightY continued: "_Isn't he supposed to be a god? Wouldn't a god know for sure?"_

The chat exploded, but it seemed pretty split on whether Kira was an actual god or whether he was simply very powerful somehow.

Then LightY played his trump card: "_And if Kira isn't a god, who's to say he's really after our best interests?_"

_If I don't respond quickly..._

The chat was starting to sway.

_"You know, this guy's starting to make some sense."_

_"Not you too."_

_"What? I thought this was an open discussion. Wouldn't that be the point of him doing this for us?"_

_"What else would he be doing it for?"_

_"Are you kidding? The whole world thinks he's a god. That's not enough of an incentive?"_

_"He might just be after his own selfish interests."_

Light grimaced at the name attached to the last post: _Apples_. Yet another reference only he would recognize. _There's more than one of them._

LightY: _"I say Kira should prove that he really doing this for us and not himself."_

Apples: _"But how?"_

LightY: _"He should challenge his opposition. Have a debate."_

Aoyama: _"Why should he have a debate when he can just kill them?"_

LightY: _"To prove that it isn't just 'might makes right.' If Kira only looking after himself, why should we want him?"_

Yotsuba: _"Because he makes the bad guys go away?"_

LightY: _"The people _he_ decides are bad. What if he's wrong?"_

Yotsuba: _"Kira's never wrong."_

LightY: _"He was clearly wrong about L being dead that one time. He's not infallible."_

Aoyama: _"That's true..."_

The impostors went on and on, playing both sides, and before long, the entire chat room was practically shouting for Kira to debate with his opposition.

_Damn_, Light thought. Justin simply smiled. This was more like it.

Then another person joined in. Username..._Ryuzaki_: A naked challenge if there was ever one.

_He must be alive_, Light thought. This whole suggestion of a debate had L written all over it. This was just the kind of theatrics Ryuzaki loved. Revealing himself to be alive during the debate would damage Kira's authority even more.

Ryuzaki began:

_"This debate is a great idea. I happen to sympathize with L, and I think that the Task Force would welcome the opportunity to prove that they are the ones who really have the people's interest in mind. I'll try to contact them."_

"Yeah, you'll _try_ to contact them," Light grumbled. _Shit. He's no doubt planted the idea of a debate elsewhere as well. At this rate, I'll have no choice but to make some kind of appearance. Damn L, he figured out my weak spot. If I refuse to live up to my image as the people's justice, I'll lose my public authority. _Sigh._ Very well, L. If you want a showdown, I'll give you one._

* * *

Within two weeks, an anonymous tape was sent to the Sakura TV station. Supposedly from the surviving members of the Kira Task Force, it proposed a televised debate between themselves and Kira, on which of them was truly the more ethical and righteous party, on the condition that neither side would use the debate as a means to locate the other group, and that it would be strictly between a Task Force member and Kira himself: no proxies.

While the pro-Kira world had very little to actually gain from this plan, and quite a bit to lose, the idea of a debate had spread like wildfire through the ranks of Kira's supporters, who were eager to see Kira in action as their champion. And not one to disappoint, a reply soon came through the lips of a publicly judged criminal, informing everyone that the challenge had been accepted. Subsequent messages confirmed the manner in which the debate would be conducted, until, on October 13, the debate was officially set to air on Sakura TV in one week, on the 20th of October, 2013.

Light decided to hold on to the faint hope that the Task Force would be captured before then. No such luck.

Behind closed doors, Ryuzaki was, naturally, appointed to be the spokesperson for the Task Force. He felt it would be easy for he and Light to debate against each other well, given their history in the investigation together.

As for the other players in the game, they were content to quietly wait for the 20th to arrive. That would be when they made their move.

* * *

October 20, 2013. 5:59 pm

People turning in to Sakura TV's channel were greeted by the emblem of their savior. A filtered voice spoke.

_"This is Kira. To all of my supporters who are watching, I appreciate the support you have showed me, and am gladdened that you share my desire for a better world. However, while we wait for our opponent to come on the air, I wish to pose a question to you. I agreed to appear here because this was what you told me you wanted. But isn't this the kind of delaying tactics that made it necessary for me to carry the burden of justice in the first place?_"

The viewers were stunned.

"_Corruption in courts and in media made it possible for evildoers to postpone their sentence and, in more cases than you might think, get out of their just punishment altogether. It might have taken years for the police to catch a criminal, and even longer for him to be executed. That's why I stepped in; to make sure that crime was dealt with swiftly and accurately, because evil thrives on our inability to deal with it decisively._

_"This may come as a surprise to you, but the original notion among you for me to engage in a debate was actually planted by members of the Task Force. No doubt using public computers that couldn't be traced to a particular person, they collectively posted on various sites and cleverly manipulated the conversation to push the public to be in favor of their plan. All this debate does is force us to legitimize them as an alternative means of justice, which distracts us from our goals._"

Kira sounded angry, but his viewers listened on with baited breath.

_"However, I think some good can come of this, as it will help bring to light the true subversive nature of these criminals. Rest assured that I would not have accepted this challenge had I not taken every precaution against their trickery._"

At this, a new voice began to speak.

"_Really, now, Kira? Don't you know it's bad form to begin a debate before your opponent is there to defend himself?_"

The Kira symbol moved to one side of the page, making room for another logo, one the audience was equally familiar with, but had not expected to see again.

_L_

"_I am L, representing the New Kira Task Force. I also represent all those who consider Kira to be not a god, but a murderer, who cloaks his crimes in the guise of a totalitarian justice, in which he is the sole voice. Rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated; it seems to be a staple of Kira's propaganda to declare me as such._"

The pro-Kira members of the audience were too shocked at the news of L's survival to even boo their opposition. Kira, however, kept his cool.

"_I suspected you were still around; it seems some people aren't as good at following instructions as I had hoped._"

"_And you made no attempt to allay these rumors?_" L asked. "_You let people go on thinking that I was dead even when the circumstances were so fishy? That doesn't sound like a very unbiased dictator to me. It makes me wonder what else your followers don't know about you._"

"_I am an arbiter, not a dictator_," Kira insisted. "_I protect people; I don't tell them how to live their lives so long as they show goodwill towards their fellow man._"

"_And yet_," L said, "_it seems to me that your result has actually turned men against each other, with everyone so eager to sell out the smallest offense in order to curry favor with you. I guess that makes your professed idea of utopia a failure, doesn't it?_"

Kira was silent for the briefest of moments, but the viewers could almost hear him fuming through the filter. Then he said cordially, "_Let's cut the small talk and get on with the debate, shall we?_"

"_I'm looking forward to it._"

* * *

Sayu, sitting at Headquarters, grimaced at hearing Kira's words, but the tone did sound familiar. The text from Ryuzaki ("_I can tell it is Light._") confirmed it.

_So it really is him_, she thought, _and not someone speaking for him_. That part was crucial.

She sent the signal text to Matsuda. "_Go ahead_." Then she switched the TV channel.

This was the part of the plan she hated the most, because her husband would be in grave danger. But she remained calm.

"You can do it, Taro," she prayed.

* * *

Matsuda grinned as he received the signal. He didn't need to pass it on to Taro; they were only supposed to contact him if there was a problem, and they had to abort. But everything was going according to plan.

He was already on his computer at home, keeping track of all the up to the minute news and police reports. If this proxy of Kira's made a move, he would know.

He switched his TV from the debate on Sakura TV to NHN. As much as he wanted to see L, this next part was crucial.

* * *

Sabanto chuckled to herself.

_Those fools. Did they really think they could outmaneuver us? The debate is so obviously a distraction. But we're one step ahead of them this time._

She heard the knock on her door, right on schedule. "Showtime."

* * *

3...2...1...Action

Taro cleared his throat. He desperately hoped the frosted glass was thick as the voice filter.

_This is it_, he thought. _It's time to put my life on the line. It's time to tell the world the truth that I should have told them a long time ago. _

"I am a Japanese citizen," he began. "I cannot divulge my name, for obvious reasons. However, I want you to know that everything I am about to tell you is true. You may have spent the last 10 years wondering about Kira; it's all anyone talks about, after all. Who he is, what he wants, is he justice, and, most importantly, how he is able to kill people all over the world. Tonight..."

_Be strong_

"...Tonight, you will learn the answer."


	18. The Secret is Out

**I'm guessing you are all probably tired of hearing this, but once again, I apologize for taking so long to update. I've not been in the mood to write fanfiction in months, and will soon retire from actively posting on so as to move on to other writing projects. However, I am not going to leave this story unfinished. I know this story has been going for about a year now, but the final chapter will be published before the end of the summer. I promise.**

**When we last saw our heroes, L was engaged with Kira in a public debate, but it's actually a ruse to draw him away from Taro, who is making a separate broadcast bent on exposing Kira's secrets. Meanwhile, Kira's proxy, Yuu Sabanto, prepares to make her move.**

* * *

"Kira is just a man. He attended high school and university right here in Japan, and is now a mere 27 years old. No matter how much power he may have, he is not a god."

"You seem to know a lot about him," the newswoman said, sitting behind her own frosted glass panel across from Taro. "How did you come to know all of this?"

"Some of it involved my own research, and I also ran into a couple of his old friends. However, I've known a lot about Kira's operation from the very beginning, but I'll get to that in a moment."

"I see," she said. "And what did you plan to do with this information?"

Taro smiled sheepishly, even though he knew the audience couldn't see it. "Well, at first I was really scared. Even though he's an ordinary man, he has a considerable amount of power and influence. And I was much younger when Kira first appeared, so there was that."

The newswoman nodded understanding. "So why did you come forward now, at a time when Kira is very strict about dealing with people who oppose his methods?"

"Because people deserve to know the truth," Taro said. The newswoman opened her mouth to speak again, but Taro went on. "Not necessarily in every aspect. Certainly, sometimes people are entitled to keep their secrets. However, most of the people who follow Kira do so because they believe Kira to be a god, and that's simply not true."

"Who's to say that having as much power as he possesses doesn't make Kira some kind of god?" the newswoman asked.

_She sounds like she supports Kira_, Taro thought. _Either that, or she's playing a good devil's advocate. Let's hope good journalism is as objective as it claims to be._

_Then again, it's not like I don't have an agenda here either._

"Because it's not really a power, it's a tool," Taro explained. "And while it is rare, it is not unique to Kira, and anyone in possession of it can use it easily."

"And could you tell us about this...tool?" she asked.

"Actually," Taro said, pulling out a piece of paper, "I'm prepared to show you."

* * *

That was the signal. Matsuda wrote down the name.

_Xavier Anderson_

_And now, we wait_, he thought.

On the screen, Taro's silhouette passed the paper to the show's host, and instructed the announcer to switch to the Skype feed they had provided. A man appeared on the screen, sitting in front of his webcam. A mask covered the upper half of his face.

_Just enough that people can see his expressions, but not enough for someone with the shinigami eyes to see his name. _He had already checked.

The man waved to his audience. Behind the glass, Taro explained that this man had volunteered for the experiment. Then, as the second hand on the clock reached the top, the man on the screen suddenly clutched his chest, and his face contorted with agony. Then he collapsed.

Matsuda pulled out the eraser. Now came the tricky part.

* * *

The newswoman's face became pale. That, combined with the phones in the studio going berserk, told Taro there was a good chance the viewers wouldn't think there was a fraud.

And there wasn't, of course. But they hadn't passed the biggest hurdle yet.

"It's called a Death Note," he explained. "Any person whose name is written in it dies of a heart attack, so all Kira needs to know in order to kill his victims is their name and what they look like. What he does isn't exactly divine or even difficult."

"So, you've set up this demonstration to show the public that you also have this tool?" the newswoman asked.

"Yes," Taro said. "Several other people have also come to possess items like this one since the rise of Kira. Most notably, there was the so-called 'Second Kira,' who appeared in 2004, but then mysteriously vanished. Unlike them, however, I've never worked under Kira himself."

"And they did?"

"Yes, they were all his pawns, whom he used to conduct his killings for him, while he worked behind the scenes."

"And it was all done by this paper?" she asked.

"Yes, but there's more," Taro assured her. "What Kira doesn't know, or rather, didn't know until recently, is that there's a way to undo this."

A skeptical eyebrow went up. "Oh?"

"Yes. Just like there is a killing paper called a Death Note, there is something called the Death Eraser." Taro pulled an eraser from his jacket pocket. "If I erase a name from the Death Note with this, that person will come back to life." he said. "Kira may have told you that he brought back those who were killed by the latest Kira imitator last summer, but that was a lie. I brought them back."

Then Taro erased the name from the paper. The studio cut again to the Skype feed, and the whole world watched as Taro's volunteer sat up and waved.

The incoming calls were roaring through the studio. The host took the signal from her boss, and said, "Well, with that astounding claim, we're cutting to a quick commercial break. We'll be taking calls when we come back. Stay tuned."

"And cut!" the boss said. Both Taro and the host relaxed. She pulled out a cigarette and lit it. She looked even more nervous than Taro was.

"I'll give you this, you sure are brave," she said. "I'd bet there's a lot of people who aren't taking what you said very well. If not for our top security, there's a good chance they would come to shut you up."

Taro smiled weakly. "That's what I'm counting on."

In reality, though, Taro was getting more and more anxious. Each passing moment made it more likely that Kira's proxy would make his move, and this plan was far from perfect. A single slip could spell disaster. If the proxy was prepared enough to defeat them, or clever enough to not come at all, it would all be for nothing.

In the grand scheme of things, the L/Kira debate meant nothing. While it was true that Kira keeping most of the people on his side would make things even more difficult for Taro and the others, it would be alright as long as the proxy was captured. All the dominoes would fall once that happened. The only purpose of the debate was to tie Light down, leaving only his proxy to deal with the impromptu broadcast.

Of course, given that broadcast had been announced that day through graffiti on the street, it was possible that the proxy might not even know about it. A lot of local viewers were more obsessed with the debate, and it wouldn't be a stretch to say that the proxy could be among them. Not to mention that this would all be for naught if the proxy wasn't in Japan as Ryuzaki had speculated.

_So many things that could go wrong. It'll be a miracle if we can pull this off. We have to lure the proxy into action._

"And we have our first caller of the program," the host said. "Go ahead, please."

"Yes, I think your guest owes us an explanation as to how he knows all of this. So far, all we've been given is a very implausible theory as to how Kira kills, with 'proof' that could very easily have been faked. Kira's given us better arguments."

"True," Taro replied, reaching into his bag and pulling out a folder of papers. Thanks to Ryuzaki's efforts, they were ready for this.

"This is an official police report, filed on November 6th, 2002, about one year before Kira first appeared. The specific names and places have been censored, but it tells of five junior high students who abruptly dropped dead of heart attacks, and bizarrely, came back to life only days later. This was crossed-referenced with some other cases, unsolved, from even earlier, where a particular group of people mysteriously died of heart attacks in a way that benefited others. In this case, it was determined by the leading detectives that a student who had been bullied by these five kids had come to possess this object, which is called a Death Note, and the eraser that can undo its actions. The case was believed by the detectives to be closed, but..."

Taro gulped. No matter how many times he recounted this story, it never got any easier.

"...the notebook was not destroyed. Instead, it was accidentally passed on to the individual known as Kira, while the student kept the eraser. I am that student, and I've had the eraser for the past 11 years."

The host's eyes widened with curiosity, as the police file was put on the screen for the viewers to inspect.

"For those of you who are still not convinced," Taro went on, "there's another source you can try. A few years ago, in an attempt to lure Kira in without causing suspicion, I submitted a manuscript for a one-shot manga to Shounen Jump, titled "The Death Note." It was published on November 25, 2009, and it detailed all of the events contained in that police report, but also with the names of people and places changed. In addition to setting bait for Kira, it was also meant to act as a means of testing people's opinions on Kira. Mainly, what if Kira was one of us?"

* * *

_Shit, it really is the guy with the eraser that Kira told me about_, Sabanto thought. _He's an even bigger threat than I realized. I have to kill him._

* * *

There was a knock, and Matsuda jumped a meter into the air.

_Relax_, he thought. _It's just Kei._

He went to open the door, and sure enough, there was Kei Sanami, back from her book club. She peered around Matsuda and sniffed the air. "Dear, did you fix dinner like I asked you to?"

_Crap._ "Sorry, I forgot. I was...er...busy."

Kei shook her head and put her hands on her hips. "Touta, Touta, what am I going to do with you?"

Matsuda grinned sheepishly. "I don't know. _You_ were the one who married _me_."

Kei laughed. Oh, how Matsuda loved the way she laughed. Like most people, she laughed at him, but it always felt so much more kind-hearted than when, say, Aizawa used to.

"Well, perhaps we'll just go out to eat, instead," she suggested.

Matsuda bit his lip. "Unfortunately, I'm still in the middle of something, but I promise I'll take you out as soon as I'm finished."

Kei sighed. "More top-secret Kira business? Oh, alright. You know I can't stay mad at you."

Matsuda chuckled weakly and turned back to the broadcast. The commercial break was over, and one of the callers was angrily telling Taro that he shouldn't be opposing Kira. And when Taro reminded them that his main concern was informing the public of the truth, the host interrupted, pointing out that the timing of the broadcast was definitely intended to undermine Kira.

"NHN's got someone to talk about Kira?" Kei asked.

"Yeah," Matsuda said. _Only this time, it's someone that actually knows what he's talking about._ He noticed Kei frowning. "What is it?"

"It's just...don't you think it's weird that Koheina isn't hosting this?" Kei asked.

"Koheina?"

"Yeah. Ever since NHN stopped pandering to Kira, Koheina's the one that always does the stories about Kira, because he's the only one that isn't biased."

_That's true_, Matsuda thought. _How did I not notice that?_ Unlike Taro, the host's voice wasn't filtered, and it definitely wasn't Koheina. It wasn't even a guy.

"That sounds more like Sabanto," Kei said.

"Sabanto?" Matsuda said. "She's the most biased of them all."

"Exactly. So why is NHN having her host something like this?" Kei asked.

_Good question_, Matsuda thought. _Come to think of it, Koheina_ was _supposed to host this show. But there's no doubt that Sabanto is the one who's hosting it instead. Something's fishy about this. I guess that if Koheina couldn't be there, they would have to get a replacement. But that...that..._

Matsuda ran to the phone. "Director Kishimoto? This is Sanami. Have there been any Kira-related deaths reported in the past few hours?"

* * *

As they went to another commercial break, Taro turned to his host. "Excuse me, Ms..."

The woman smiled. "Just call me Yuu."

"Yuu, what do you think about all this? I know that you're trying to remain unbiased in this, but I can tell that you happen to support Kira. Does any of this strike as being a little unsettling, that we've basically entrusted our justice system to a single, unknown person, just because he has this notebook?"

Yuu smiled. "Not necessarily. Crime rates have been reduced because of him, and you can't argue with those kinds of results. If he is just a man, I'd say that just makes the impact he has had even more impressive."

"Really? That's a whole lot of power for one person to have."

"Well then, what about you?" Yuu asked. "By your own admission, you've killed people with this notebook, regardless of the fact that you brought them back later. Yet you've waited until now to come forward with this information. You're trying to mitigate your own crimes in order to bring Kira down: in effect, using the Death Note for your own ends. If the police arrest Kira for what he's done, then don't you deserve whatever fate he receives? Especially if you're partially responsible for Kira receiving this power in the first place?"

Taro gritted his teeth. "Maybe. But I'll worry about that when the time comes."

Just then, a sharp ringing sound split the air. But it wasn't any of the studio phones: it was Taro's cell phone.

_What now?_ thought Taro, hoping it wasn't who he suspected it was. No such luck. Matsuda's number flashed on the screen. He had promised to only call if there was an emergency. Which, at this stage of the game, was very bad news.

"What is it?" he asked.

"_The host is the proxy!_"

Taro gulped. His whole life flashed before his eyes. After so many years of chasing Kira, the goal was so close he could practically taste it. But the best chance of victory also invited the best chance of fatal defeat.

"I understand, but I'm a little busy at the moment," Taro said, trying to keep a stoic expression for Sabanto's sake. Twenty seconds before the end of the commercial break. "We'll talk later." Then he hung up.

"Who was that?" Sabanto asked.

"Oh, just-" For some reason, no one came to mind as an immediate excuse. _Oh right, it's because I don't have any friends._ "-my wife," he finally blurted out. _Why was that so hard? _"I just need to let her know what's going on. She worries about me."

Sabanto smiled. "I'm sure she does."

Hoping she might buy the "I'm texting my wife" line, Taro messaged Matsuda.

_Are you sure?_

As the show resumed, Taro tried to pay attention to the caller's question, but he was getting anxious. He had to know what Matsuda had found out. Finally, the response came.

_We had arranged for Kenichi Koheina to host the interview, but Yuu Sabanto replaced him at the last minute. Also, Koheina has just found dead in his house. Heart attack._

That was certainly suspicious.

Taro:_ What do we do?__ We can't just grab her now. If Light doesn't hear back from her, he'll know something's wrong._

Matsuda:_ X and I have worked out a plan. __Listen carefully..._

* * *

"Tell me something, Yuu," Taro asked, during the next commercial break. "Were you in the news business a few years ago, when Kira was speaking directly through the media?"

"Yes," Sabanto said. "I had just started at the time, but I remember when Kira killed the Sakura TV newscasters over their monument campaign."

"Did you ever want to be Kira's mouthpiece yourself?"

Yuu smiled. "Well, I couldn't have been even if I wanted to. Even though he came to our network, Kiyomi Takada was a veteran, so there's no way I would have gotten picked over her. Besides, she had the face for it."

She chuckled. Taro squirmed, not sure whether it was polite to laugh or not.

"But the truth is that I didn't want to be his voice on the news," she continued. "It's like...I always got the feeling Takada did it for the attention. You didn't work with her, so you probably had no idea how much of a snob she was in real life. I thought that following Kira's directions to be famous was being faithful for the wrong reasons."

"So," Taro concluded, "it would be better to just follow Kira's lead in one's everyday life. Without being noticed."

"Exactly."

"Like in those underground cells."

Sabanto's mouth twitched. "What?"

"I mean, it's obvious that Kira's set up his own neighborhood watch, especially with what happened to the orphanage in England."

Sabanto's smile began to fade.

"You mean that attack? What about it"

"I heard it had something to do with L. That his successors were being trained at that orphanage or something."

Taro tried not to grin. He could see the cogs in Sabanto's mind turning. _Did he hear that from L himself? Does that mean they're working together?_ For a threat like him to be working directly with L would be a major problem for Kira and Sabanto. She couldn't let that slide.

And yet, Sabanto seemed surprisingly calm.

"So...about those 'neighborhood watches'?" she asked.

"I was just wondering if that was the sort of thing you'd say was the 'right way' to support Kira."

Sabanto leaned back in her seat, with her hands firmly in her pockets. "Well, obviously, they shouldn't be disobeying the law. That would defeat the purpose of a perfect society."

_Nice answer._

"So then you don't approve?"

Sabanto smiled. "Whether I do or not seems like a rather personal thing to ask, doesn't it?"

It might be, but now that Taro thought about it, he was sure she had been in the crowd when L was killed. _Should I bring that up? Matsuda did say to try and goad her. No, it's almost time to get back on the air. But it doesn't look like I've gotten to her yet._

"Oh yes, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be impertinent."

"It's no trouble," Sabanto assured him. Then she noticed the director signaling. "Well, shall we continue, Taro?"

"Of course," Taro said. Then he realized that she had just dropped her voice down almost to a whisper, and called him by his name. Her lips curled ever so slightly into a smile.

_She's already written my name down. God, I hope you've got a plan, Matsuda. If this doesn't work, I'll be dead. Again. Kira will have finally beaten me. I'll have nothing to show for 10 years of work and staying alive._

Then he realized that, again, he hadn't thought about Sayu. On the eve of confrontation with Kira, his thoughts had been totally concerned with the victory or defeat that was imminent, but not with his wife. Or, for that matter, any of his family. Or his old classmates. Or his old coworkers.

His life had become consumed by Kira.

And yet, unlike before, he had no ill feelings towards Kira because of this. All he could feel was guilt over going through life without really living it, either for others or himself. Kira or no Kira, life went on. Other people had managed to live their lives regardless of the world Light was creating. _When was the last time I even spoke to my parents?_ he thought. It must have been years. He could think of no intentions he had in life other than seeing this matter resolved. He had even tried to bring back thousands from the dead: undoing Kira's work without giving a thought to the disastrous consequences. He had wondered what Ryuzaki would do with his life once Kira was finally caught. _What would I do?_

Not that any of that mattered now.

_But Sayu..._

She had put up with his secrets, and with his obsessions. And there were still more; he hadn't even told her the most important step in the plan to bring Kira down. And somehow, she had managed to forgive him for his dishonesty. That was more than he could have expected or asked for. But now he found himself thinking about why he had decided to marry her in the first place.

He knew the answer. He had always known it. And that was the greatest crime of all.

"Excuse me."

Taro snapped back to reality. "What?"

Sabanto looked at him. "The caller was asking about why we should care about all of this, as long as Kira keeps us safe?"

Taro's mind was a blank. For all his preparation, he was unable to think clearly about how to answer this, the most important question. But his mouth continued to speak, as if his body realized he had only seconds left.

"Because if Kira is human, he is fallible. And if I cannot sit before you and speak against him, then who can?"

Taro saw Sabanto's smile falter ever so slightly as it occurred to her exactly what was going to happen.

Then Taro felt it.

The sudden pain in his chest.

He was grateful that, as a 14-year-old kid at the police station, he had asked for a painless death.

Because a heart attack, especially one that could kill you in seconds, was even more painful than he had imagined.

He fell out his chair, clutching his chest, trying to claw the pain away. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sabanto leap down next to him. "Oh, no! Someone grab the defibrillator!" _Very clever, Sabanto, to cover your tracks._ While the whole studio was in a panic, Sabanto leaned down close to his body. "It's okay, we're going to get the medics in here," but even as she said that, Taro felt her reaching into his jacket pocket and seizing the piece of paper and the eraser.

Then she smiled. "Sweet dreams," she whispered.

Taro didn't hear any more of her lies. He blacked out before the medics could reach him.

* * *

Then he awoke. He sat up and looked around.

The studio was dark, and very nearly deserted. There was a man standing a few feet away. He turned and saw Taro.

"Good, you made it back," Matsuda said. "Good thing you came back here, and not the morgue. That would have been awkward." He chuckled nervously.

Taro breathed a sigh of relief. The mere fact that he was alive meant the plan had worked.

"Where's Sabanto?" he asked.

"In her dressing room," Matsuda said. "X is with her."

"Just X?" Taro asked.

"Yeah," Matsuda replied. "Sayu and Ryuzaki are still at their posts. They're waiting to hear from us."

_Good. This next part would have been a lot harder if Sayu was here._ "Well, let's not keep them waiting too much longer."

* * *

"So, you were working with them, Xavier Anderson," Sabanto sneered. She would have happily strangled the man in front of her, or least written his name down, if her hands weren't tied to her chair.

"Just call me X," he grunted. "And they did say I was a volunteer. Unlike you and Kira, we don't lie."

"X? So you're one of the letters, then."

"The last one," X confirmed, glaring at her.

"So, how did you know it was me?" she asked.

"Koheina's body. If you need to commit murder in order to reach your target, you shouldn't leave him where it can be found."

Sabanto frowned, and when she saw Taro and Matsuda walk into the room, the frown deepened.

"I guess you got me," Sabanto spat. "But you were all pretty lucky. Especially you." She nodded her head at Taro. "I was on my way to destroy the evidence when you guys caught up with me. Then the eraser would have been useless."

"Actually," Matsuda explained, "it wasn't luck at all." He reached into his pocket and held up a piece of paper for Sabanto to read.

_Yuu Sabanto, heart attack._

_She carries out her plan to kill the person trying to expose Kira's secrets. She confirms her mission's success to Kira, then waits quietly until the commotion at the studio dies down. Then she walks to her dressing room with the intention to dispose of the evidence._

"And that's where we found you," X reminded her. "We knew you would have brought some of the Death Note with you, just in case you had to kill Taro. And we specified that you wouldn't dispose of that paper until you came here, so there was no chance it could be destroyed."

"From there, it was simply a matter of finding the Death Note piece in your pocket, and erasing Taro's name," said Matsuda.

"But instead of giving Taro the Death Note paper and the eraser, we had it, so we could use it without being observed, and so you wouldn't get ahold of it," X finished. "We staged my little death scene for the public and for you, and made it look like Taro did it."

Sabanto scowled, apparently unfazed at the prospect that she was about to die. "Kind of hypocritical to say all that stuff about Kira being evil, and then use a Death Note yourself."

Matsuda and X were at a loss for words at that remark, but Taro responded through clenched teeth.

"We never claimed to be the good guys. But we are going to restore the balance so that things can go back to normal."

Sabanto laughed. "That's rich. All you've managed to do is kill me, and Kira is still out there. You haven't exactly accomplished much."

"But we will," X said. "Once you tell us where Kira is."

Sabanto laughed again. "What makes you think I know where he is?"

"L told us that Kira's plan would most likely be to set a system in place so judgment could be carried on after he died," Matsuda said. "In theory, you would replace him, and so you would have to have some way of getting to whatever supplies he hasn't given you. So, you know where he is."

"And even if that were true," Sabanto continued, ignoring him, "why would I tell you?"

"Because Kira will betray you," Taro said. "You mentioned Kiyomi Takada earlier. She worked directly with Kira, and he killed her as soon as she ended up in a compromising position."

"And she was his former girlfriend, too," Matsuda piped in.

"Kira doesn't deserve your loyalty," Taro continued. "If your positions were reversed, he would give you away in a heartbeat."

Sabanto laughed again. "Kira has nothing to fear from me. You're all wasting your time."

"That's what you think," Taro said, "but that's because you don't the whole story. Show her, Matsuda."

Matsuda shifted his grip on the paper, revealing an additional line of Sabanto fate that was hidden behind his finger.

_When she arrives at her dressing room, she is captured by members of the Task Force. She discloses the location of Kira to her captors. Afterwards, she dies._

Sabanto's smug smile vanished instantly. She understood the implications of this. If a situation described in the Death Note was impossible, the victim would simply die of a heart attack after 40 seconds. Sabanto, however, was still alive, even with these described conditions. That meant that not only did she have the information they were looking for, but she would give it up if pressed hard enough. And her captors knew it, too, so now they had the advantage. The Death Note never lied. Confession was possible, and thus, inevitable.

_Of course, sometimes the specific circumstances can help_, thought Taro. _I doubt she would give up Kira if she didn't have proof that she will. Fate can be circular that way, I guess._

"I brought equipment to torture the information out of you," X said, opening a bag at his feet. "I would prefer not to resort to that, however. Since you're going to tell us anyway, you might as well do it now, and save yourself some pain."

The broken Sabanto didn't need that much convincing. Ten minutes later, she named an address in Texas where she said they would be able to find Kira. Then, just as the paper promised, she let out a strangled cry, and slumped over, lifeless.

"Now we know where Light is, and he doesn't know we're coming," X said. "You two dispose of her body; I'll go take Kira down."

"That's actually not the plan," Taro said evenly.

X raised his eyebrow, but before he could ask Taro what he meant, he suddenly staggered. "What did...you..." was all he managed to get out before he collapsed.

"Did we really need to kill him?" Matsuda asked. "I know we can bring him back to life, but still...And L told us he was trained at undercover operations. Are you sure we can't let him do it?"

"We both know what you saw," Taro reminded him, reaching for X's bag. "X isn't the one who is supposed to kill Kira. I am." Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a sealed envelope. "Please give this to Sayu. Hopefully, it will help her understand."

Matsuda's eyes teared up, but he kept a stiff upper lip. "Goodbye, Taro."

In a flash, Taro envisioned a future in which he became good friends with Matsuda. In which he could be a proper husband to Sayu. He shrugged it away.

He smiled. "Goodbye, Touta."

Then he left the room. It was finally time to end this.

* * *

**To be concluded...**


End file.
